Picture this: a sunny August day on Swans Island, Maine. The yearly family gathering is at the same spot we’ve been going to for generations. My mom and her cousins spent their summers here, and so have I. It’s the perfect place for a kid to spend their vacation. With my dog Chester by my side, we explore vast woods of maple and pine trees and then head out in the rowboat to fish in the cove for the rest of the afternoon. Today we are at our friend's house, which has a dock that we use to plunge into the Atlantic. The rush and adrenaline we get from submerging in the water is exhilarating. We can hardly feel the frigid salt waters as we play in it for hours. As the tide goes out, we head back ashore for a highly competitive cornhole tournament. Going up against my uncles and older cousins was daunting. This is my Superbowl: my big game. The participants compete for the trophy: A toy lobster handily attached to a straw bucket hat with zip ties. Everyone knows the better prize is bragging rights for the year. I handily defeat my mom and then eke out a win against our good friend Gary, who won last year, to reach the finals. I’m up against my friend Meri. She knocked me out of the tournament last summer and I am yearning for redemption. It’s a nail biter as we take turns giving up and then regaining the lead as we battle to reach the magic number 21. After what feels like an eternity, I sink my last blue beanbag into the hole of the board and am declared the winner. My excitement is contagious as everyone cheers and even my dog Chester joins in the celebration with a few barks and yard zoomies. As Gary ceremoniously places the coveted lobster hat on my head, my face beaming with pride, I feel something warm and wet on my ankle. I look down to see Chester, his leg lifted towards me as if I were a fire hydrant, thoroughly drenching my leg with his pee. All I could do was join the laughter of my family and friends before heading over to the hose to rinse off. Afterward, we gather on the front lawn for Maine’s most famous delicacy. The lobster, freshly caught just this morning, is boiled and prepared just in time for dinner. I hear the crack of the shells between laughter and conversations with everyone at the table. The sky floods with the warm colors of orange, yellow, and red as the sun sets under the ocean. Chester is sitting patiently off to the side, certain that some lobster will be tossed his way. I can’t wait to do it all over again next year.

The first game of the Spring season was like the first day of high school: I didn’t know what to expect. The kids arrived one by one in the back seat of their parents' cars. Most of them couldn’t wait to escape their parents' grasp and they dashed towards the baseball field as soon as they could. One kid hung around the parking lot, attached to his mother’s hip. His name was Will. I decided to pull him aside and have a catch with him one on one. I immediately realized that Will was just as eager to play and participate; he just needed to be guided a different way. There are very few athletic opportunities for children and young adults with disabilities in my community. The Challenger Baseball Program gives an opportunity for people with physical and developmental disabilities to learn and play the game of baseball. I began volunteering as a coach for the adaptive baseball league a few years ago. I decided to volunteer because I was looking for a way to give back to the Little League community that had provided me years of fun and friendship. As a Challenger coach I teach kids with disabilities the joy of baseball while strengthening self-esteem, learning teamwork, sportsmanship and fair play. Their parents also get a break from the every day and have the opportunity to simply watch their kids have fun! Since I started with the Challenger program, we have grown it to include a bowling league in the fall and a basketball program in the winter. I recruited many of my classmates to help coach in those leagues. While I am sad that I won’t be home this fall to help out, I chose Tulane University because of it’s strong commitment to service learning, and the fact that there is an adaptive baseball field right across the street from campus. I plan to continue building on my experience growing opportunities for kids with disabilities to play sports by working with the Miracle League of New Orleans. When I began coaching my Challenger team, my goal was to give back and hopefully make a positive difference to the kids. What I wasn’t expecting was how important volunteering would become to me, and what I would gain from the experience: patience, adaptability, and leadership. Looks like we all learned something valuable.

As I dragged my feet down the stairs to our locker room, I heard the slamming of helmets, the low whispers of conversations and the muffled sobs of my teammates who just played their last football game. As I sat down with my face in the palm of my hands, tears of my own running down my face, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up to see a freshman standing over me. He thanked me for everything I had done for him. He told me he looked up to me. After he stepped aside, teammate after teammate came up to me and thanked me for the example I set and the impact I had on them. Until that moment I had no idea how influential I was to my teammates. One of the most humbling moments of my life was being voted by my peers to be a captain of my football team. When my name was called I was so grateful and honored. As a captain, I was in charge of leading my team, representing us to the community, and being a spokesperson for the program to our athletic director. I participated in several fundraising events and community service projects involving the team. My favorite community service projects included serving breakfast at our local VFW, helping to run youth football games, and coaching youth players in the community.  Looking back on my football career and the night my team played our last game together, I can see the many ways that football improved my character. Waking up before the sun to practice during the summer while my friends were still asleep, taught me discipline. I learned how to be a part of something bigger than myself by being a small part of a larger goal and I learned how to work hard by giving effort everyday at practice, lifts, or games. I believe I was a successful leader because I made sure that everyone on the team felt important, from the starters to the freshman. I accomplished this by coordinating rides for underclassmen to get to team dinners so that they could bond with the rest of the team. In the weight room, I took time away from my own workout to teach the freshman how to properly do exercises that they were struggling with. I made sure to tell the unsung heroes of our team that I appreciated them after every game. Football gave me plenty of opportunities to learn how to handle disappointment and failure, but it also taught me to persevere. I may not have the opportunity to lead a football team in college, but I can still find a community to be a part of and use what I’ve learned to build a team, achieve new goals, and give back.