UPPER ARLINGTON, Ohio — Even in an empty stadium, you can almost hear it.
You can hear the crowd, feel the energy and see the support for the boys of fall.
This year the Upper Arlington Golden Bears football team has an impressive 13-0 record and is in the mix for this year’s playoffs. Two standout senior playmakers on the team are wide receiver Sam Cannon and running back Carson Gresock.
Arguably, the biggest play they’ve made this year has come off the field.
“David has been through a lot more than most people ever go through in their lives,” Lisa Brooks said.
Brooks’ son, David is also a senior at UA. When he was just a year old, he was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. He also has a mitochondrial disorder that affects his organs. Spinal fusion surgeries, or “pit stops” as David calls them, have, at times, made life difficult.
But all of that is not what’s important to David.
“I realized what he wants is he wants to be a part of a team,” Brooks said. “So, we ended up joining the football team.”
That was in 2019.
In 2020, due to COVID-19, David’s time with the team was limited. This year, football standouts Gresock, Cannon and senior classmate Alyssa Greene called an audible on David’s behalf.
“[David is] really the driving force,” Greene said. “By being able to go straight to the heart of the school, our football team has really made making friends a lot easier for him.”
The three, as part of their senior capstone class, started a project: Give Me Rocks.
It’s about inclusion. The course instructor is also head football coach, Justin Buttermore.
“I was really proud of the fact that they wanted to highlight something outside of the norm,” Buttermore said.
“Rocks” is another term for fist bumps. But it is much more than that.
“The interesting thing is, at first it was like ‘Mom, let’s go see the cheerleaders’ and as this season has progressed he has been like ‘First I need to give my fist bumps, because the boys want their good luck fist bumps at the beginning of the game’,” Brooks said.
Maybe the best play of the season came recently, when, during a game, cheering erupted that had nothing to do with what was happening on the field.
Students, cheerleaders and fans had gathered around David and started cheering for him and chanting his name.
“He got this look like what is going on,” Brooks said. “And I looked over at him and I said buddy it’s a good thing and then you see this big smile. I mean it gave me chills.”
Through his computer system that allows him to mark certain letters and words and phrases, David responded to 10TV’s Bryant Somerville’s question of “What was that moment like?”
“That was awesome,” David typed out.
“It’s priceless,” Gresock said. “It’s great to see that smile. We just hope we can keep expanding it to other kids, too.”
An awesome call not found in the playbook.
“Just to learn that everyone wants to be included on a team, I think, is so important,” Lisa Brooks said.
It’s found when people have the courage to throw down their yellow flag of friendship.