Football Player with Cerebral Palsy Scores Touchdown - East Idaho News

Football Player with Cerebral Palsy Scores Touchdown

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101012 JackMcGrawTouchdown?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1349904723831Meg Hammer / The McGraw Family(NEW YORK) — Jack McGraw, a 13-year-old eighth-grade student at Haines Middle School in St. Charles, Ill., was given the opportunity to achieve his dream of scoring a touchdown Oct. 2 at his school’s Football Invitational Tournament.

Granted, most young athletes dream of the moment they cross the goal line, but this moment was especially meaningful for Jack, who has cerebral palsy and relies on his wheelchair for mobility.

Despite his disability, Jack has been an integral part of the school’s football team for the past two years.

“It was a great opportunity for him. He’s on the team,” Jack’s football coach, Sean Masoncup, said. “He’s got a jersey and is on the sidelines every game. He comes to every practice. He’s sort of like a team member and assistant coach.”

And with that, Masoncup got the ball rolling to surprise Jack in a big way. Masoncup knew Jack had physical therapy sessions every week and would sometimes have to miss practice, so he suggested one tactic that would secretly help him get closer to fulfilling his dream.

“Why don’t you work on him being able to use his left hand to motorize the chair and the other hand being able to hold a football?” Masoncup asked Jack’s mom. “She asked, ‘Why?’ And I told her about a touchdown idea.”

Everyone kept it a total surprise from Jack. Not even his fellow teammates knew this would happen until the day of the game.

On the fourth down with only 23 seconds left in the game, the opposing team took a knee, turned possession of the ball over to Jack, and the entire stadium watched as he made his way to the end zone, scoring a touchdown for his beloved Haines Hurricanes.

“He was really excited,” Masoncup said. “He’s always wanted to be a part of it. He really enjoys sports. It was our way as coaches of helping him to live his dream out.

“I think he was a little nervous, but once he scored, he was just ecstatic. It was one of the best moments of my coaching career.”

It was a very powerful moment for Jack’s mother, too.

“People have asked me how I felt when he crossed the end zone. For me it wasn’t even that, it was just the way parents, the cheerleaders, the kids were all just cheering,” she said. “It was the level of acceptance that I know kids with disabilities haven’t had in the past. They treat him so well.”

And as for Jack, his mother said, “He’s been on cloud nine. He pretty much thinks he’s a rock star.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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