http://www.thecabin.net/stories/090106/spo_0901060029.shtml
Simple games that matter for UCA's football team
LITTLE ROCK - Colbin, a pixie of a girl with rich black hair and a smile that would make a dentist salivate, was a standoffish at first when Tristan Jackson sat down at the play table.
The University of Central Arkansas defensive back was a lot bigger, and it's a challenge to be terribly personable when an IV is jutting from your arm to a medication carrier behind you. Colbin managed a cover girl smile for photos, then sullied up when Jackson set up "Disney Junior Monopoly." "Don't know the rules," she whined.
Her mother and a volunteer then found "Chutes and Ladders" in the game cabinet.
Big smile from Colbin.
She pulled out her favorite Dora The Explorer token, chuckled and gave a sirens' lure nod at Jackson. Game on.
The tiny young girl, who was born in Alaska and has had health problems since birth, would soon be forcing Jackson to go a full 60 minutes.
A short distance away in the playroom at Arkansas Children's Hospital, UCA football coach Clint Conque knelt face to face with a wheelchair-bound youngster with half of his head shaved and wires connected to two computers. He was set for surgery the next day. "You'll do fine, man," Conque said fervently, patting him on the shoulder. "I'll say a prayer for you tonight, OK."
A couple of yards away, UCA's Ryan Taylor and James Paul were signing a football and posing for pictures with Matthew, another wheelchair-limited patient, who insisted on making his large stuffed armadillo a prominent part of the photo.
In one corner was a young girl, a budding artist, curled in a stroller, heavy bandages covering a leg badly mangled by a recent automobile accident. An IV protruded from a hole in her foot. She's had three surgeries already and now, the prognosis is better than appearances. For now, she leaned out of the stroller and quietly painted with watercolors.
UCA and Henderson State played a football game Thursday night as a benefit to Arkansas Children's Hospital. Nine UCA players, part of a select group who visit the hospital each weekend of a home game, discovered the day before the football game a few reasons for playing.
Thursday's game counted on a scoreboard. The games at children's hospital counted in the hearts and spirits of children, their parents and their caregivers.
Back to "Chutes and Ladders." Colbin is laughing, flashing a Christmas Day smile with every spin. Dora is going up a lot of chutes and Jackson, "TJ" now to her, has his pink token falling down a lot of ladders. He's toast.
Colbin smiles again, claps her hands and pulls out, "Candyland." Jackson laughs and finds another token.
In another part of the hospital (the eye, ear and throat clinic), UCA assistant Perry Eliano escorts a small group of players to see a few patients who are unable to come out and play. When they heard that football players were going to visit, some made footballs out of construction paper, theoretically for the players to autograph. Turned out, the patients ended up personalizing the football drawings and gave them to the UCA players.
Back in the playroom, the ever-smiling, ever-more-active Colbin is polishing off Jackson in "Candyland," while Jasper Johnson, Ross Matt, Leroy Hamilton and Taylor discover paper plates, and the timeless magic of glue and glitter."Just like Bible school," jokes Taylor, who designs a brilliant, multi-colored plate to the glee of nearby nurses, who are impressed by bulky football players playing board games and fooling around with glitter.
Colbin breezes to a "Candyland" victory, leaving Jackson with a head shake and a smile.
"Aw, this guy barely knows his colors," teased Johnson, a fellow secondary member.
The watercolor artist with the injured leg has completed three paintings, all drying on a shelf nearby.
As the UCA group poses for pictures with her, she insists one of the paintings be included in the photograph. Conque grabs one.
"You've got it upside down!" she pointed at the brightly colored abstract and cringed, halting the photo at almost mid-shutter."Sorry," Conque, grinning sheepishly and reversed the artwork. "Coach messed up again."
Meanwhile, Colbin had taken some glitter and glue and diligently worked on a commemorative plate for her game-buddy "TJ."
She smiled again presenting him with the plate that read, big blue letters, "I Beat U." With a silver, permanent marker, she signed her name on the back.
As the UCA group was preparing to leave, Paul and Justin Jones had to be almost pried from a video game competition that they engaged with another patient for at least 30 minutes. The young watercolor artist was wondering why some of the players couldn't come by and play the next night after the game.
Colbin, now disconnected from the IV and clutching miniature autographed football in one hand and holding her mother's hand with the other, proudly walked back to her room in hospital gown and flip-flops, with a final wave to her friends, who had turned an hour of possible pain into seconds of unforgettable fun.
The UCA players and coaches left the hospital like kids from church camp, their hands full of construction paper trophies, extra permanent markers, plates still with the pungent smell of recently dispersed glue and various colors of glitter on their pants.
They took away as much as they gave.
(Sports columnist David McCollum can be reached at 505-1235 or
david.mccollum@thecabin.net)
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