The scene plays out across Boise and Meridian at dozens of fields and gyms every week.
Young athletes take the field, parents start videoing the action, and friends and family cheer.
The only difference is some of the Game Changers Idaho (GCI) athletes have disabilities.
Founded in 2018, the nonprofit currently serves nearly 500 kids, utilizing more than 200 volunteers.
“We started from scratch with just a flag football program,” GCI Executive Director Gabriel Moreno said. “It was like 40 kids and a dozen volunteers. Now we have a soccer program, a gymnastics program, golf. We have CrossFit, fencing, basketball, a program called Training Camp, and then another program called Little Game Changers for three- to five-year-olds.”
A Level Playing Field
GCI is free for all its athletes, with programs running for roughly 10 to 12 weeks.
“It's providing consistency for these kids and the families, rather than a one-day sports day for inclusion,” Moreno said. “It's like, no, every week they should be having an opportunity to see their teammates and play. We're just a sports program. If you think about it, we just serve kids with disabilities, and we provide volunteers for them so parents don't have to be volunteers.”
The programs offer kids the joy of sports and the opportunity to be trusted teammates.
“Our football program, our soccer program, our basketball program is for kids with and without disability. And oftentimes, you can't tell who's who. You couldn't tell who a peer mentor is or who an athlete is.
“Our peer mentors, they start when they're kindergartners. And they're just playing a sport. And they don't even know they're playing with kids with disabilities. So over time, they're going to grow up and they're going to realize, ‘Oh, these kids are different.’ But they've already accepted it. And we have so many kids in that position right now and they're turning into coaches and they're leading their team, and it's a beautiful thing.”
Parents tell Moreno they appreciate their child not being a token or a photo op.
“We don't use the word ‘inclusion’ in our program,” he said. “Just do the work and do it often to the point where you don't need to use that word. And that's exactly what we're doing.”
Unless…
One of Moreno’s favorite quotes, from Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax,” is a guiding principle for GCI: ‘Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.’
“It's so true with our organization,” he said. “I love what I do, but there's only so much I can do alone. And that's where the volunteers come in. Amazing people, racking up hundreds of hours of volunteer service. And they're so consistent and you can tell they really enjoy helping.”
But the spirit of helping at GCI isn’t limited to volunteers.
KUPANA: ‘To Give’ in Swahili
“How often are children with disabilities ever put in a position to help others?” Moreno asked. “It's usually the opposite, right? They're like the charity case; they have a disability. I view things differently.”
To that end, one of GCI’s main events is a SoleKIDS Jog-A-Thon, which raises money for Free Wheelchair Mission and provides wheelchairs to Peruvians who can’t access mobility aids. The event is part of KUPANA, a GCI program focused on service, teamwork, and giving back.
“Just because they have a disability doesn't mean they're incapable of helping others,” Moreno said of his athletes, who raised enough money to donate 30 wheelchairs after June’s event.
Thirty GCI volunteers visited Iquitos, Peru, this year to assemble and deliver the wheelchairs.
“These wheelchairs were bought and paid for by Game Changer athletes,” Moreno said. “And the parents really appreciate that we view their kids in a way where they're able to help other people, and they legit change someone's life. Our sports programs are great and all, but that's probably our most impactful program. And it's very, very, very rare that you see that.”
Full Circle
For Moreno, his early visions for GCI were formed back in college, when he got a job as a community support worker with a therapy clinic.
“You're partnered with a child,” he explained. “And in this case, this child was on the spectrum and he had little goals that he struggled with: communication skills, doing his chores, going out in public and paying for something on his own without feeling anxious or whatever. (If) he did become overwhelmed, how do you recover from that? So it was my first experience working with a child with a disability and it really just opened my eyes. It started off with him and that really made me want to, from there going forward, work in this field serving these kids.”
The boy, Caleb, was 8 when Moreno met him.
“He's 22 now. And he volunteers for us. He's a referee for our flag football program. He's a role model of like, ‘Hey, sure he has a disability, but he's still capable of helping.’”
It’s an example that’s spreading.
“We're seeing a lot of our younger kids grow up and they're still participating with us, but they're also capable of volunteering,” Moreno said. “And we're giving them little roles, so they're successful. But it started with (Caleb). And it was him that really just made me want to continue doing more.”
A Field of Their Own
As with many organizations, growing pains have started to hit.
“In the future, it is a big dream of ours to have our own indoor facility,” Moreno said. “Our partners are people that provide facilities, and they either give it to us for free or a discounted rate. We're really appreciative of what they give us, but we have to always work around their schedule. And I know there's a lot more that we can do. But in order to do that, we do need our own facility.”
Moreno said this is a long-term vision, but finding a way forward will help grow GCI to a year-round organization that can help more Idaho kids.
“We're always looking for monthly donors, one-time donors, sponsors. There are different ways to give.”
Until that day, GCI will continue to answer the Lorax’s call, by caring ‘a whole awful lot’ as its athletes take to fields, courts, and mats.
To learn more about GCI, visit gamechangersidaho.org.