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Felix Keith Mader, 8, plays an arcade game at Allevity on Saturday, Jan. 31. He attended a Playmakers event for kids who have special needs. Aberdeen Insider photo by Scott Waltman.
A chance meeting in an Iowa motel lobby has led to a former California football coach helping Aberdeen area kids who have special needs.
And that’s why at least a couple hundred people, many who waited in bitter cold to get in, wound up at Allevity the morning of Saturday, Jan. 31.
Leonhardt
Kids with special needs and their families enjoyed a couple of hours of playing arcade games, ski ball and spin zone bumper cars with members of the Central High School boys basketball team and other local high school athletes.
The free event was hosted by Playmakers, a nonprofit organization that aims to enhance the lives of all kids and families through inclusive sports, community service and lifelong relationships. The man who founded the group is Greg Roeszler.
Roeszler — Coach Roz — doesn’t put much stock in serendipity. Things happen for a reason, he said. But he had no plans to bump into Faulkton High School lineman Carson Leonhardt who, a few years back, was visiting Iowa for a football camp.
The two just happened to make reservations for the same night in the same place.
First event in South Dakota
They got to talking, Roeszler explaining what Playmakers does and his own passion for helping young people with developmental disabilities, when Leonhardt asked if the group could schedule an event in South Dakota.
That led to a football camp in what’s now the Aberdeen Dome about three years ago, though the description is misleading. The camp was open and free to all kids with special needs, and the biggest part of the event was a tug of war, Roeszler said. It was mostly a day of inclusive activities, he said.
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Leonhardt now plays football at Dakota Wesleyan.
Central High School junior Brenner Waldrop, who then played football for the Golden Eagles, helped at that camp and enjoyed it so much, he’s kept in touch with Roeszler since.
Waldrop said he got as much if not more back than he gave to the kids at the camp and he knew he wanted to be involved in Playmakers. Last summer, he attended a leadership camp in California.
In essence, Waldrop has taken the baton from Leonhardt.
Members of the Central High School boys basketball team helped with a Playmakers event for kids with special needs at Allevity on Saturday, Jan. 31. Aberdeen Insider photo by Scott Waltman.
Next Playmakers camp in Aberdeen is May 9
The next Playmakers event in town is set for Saturday, May 9 at the Aberdeen Dome. It’s another “football” camp, so to speak, and is called Aberdeen Sports Fun Day. It’s free and open to all kids with special needs and their families, but advance registration is required. That can be done online at theplaymakers.org/events/.
In helping plan and lead the events, Roeszler gets a lot of the publicity, though he passes it on to those who help. He said Waldrop organized the activities at Allevity.
Attendees were handed Playmakers shirts with Waldrop’s name and number on the back. Kids milled about, teaming up with high school athletes to play games. They enjoyed breakfast snacks when they arrived and pizza before they left.
Greg Roeszler addresses the crowd at the beginning of the Playmakers event the morning of Saturday, Jan. 31 at Allevity. During the event, local high school athletes teamed up with kids who have special needs to play arcade games. Aberdeen Insider photo by Scott Waltman.
Roeszler said his passion was stirred when, while coaching football in Sacramento, Calif., he noticed that kids with developmental disabilities were often isolated from the rest of the students. They had their own classrooms and area in the school. So, he started working to include them in more events, which ultimately sparked Playmakers.
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One lesson Roeszler said he has learned is that it’s easy to have fun with kids at events like Saturday’s, but sometimes they are a lifeline for parents who seek inclusive, safe environments for their children with special needs.
When he visited Aberdeen for a planning event, he happened to drive past Allevity. Not knowing what it was, Roeszler said he stopped in to check it out. In visiting with David Novstrup, one of the owners, Roeszler knew the business would be a great spot for a Playmakers winter event.
That’s how it came to be, and he was pleased to see local athletes pitching in. Members of the Yelduz Shrine in Aberdeen also helped out.
People like Central boys basketball coach Colton McClemans understand that athletics are about more than just games and inclusivity is vital, Roeszler said.
So does Waldrop, whose willingness to be a leader, Roeszler said, helps make Playmakers events possible. He said the next step for Waldrop is to recruit and nurture his successor so the group can remain active in Aberdeen.
