Clippers answer challenge

Columbiana High football players volunteered to help the camp's summer program.
By JOHN BASSETTI
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
COLUMBIANA -- Columbiana high school football coach Bob Spaite told his players that they wouldn't become better in football, but they would become better in life for their participation with individuals from Camp Rachel.
He was mostly right.
One wheelchair-bound camper named Donald made a spiraling football toss to counselor David Rice and it wasn't soft.
"Touchdown!" Rice yelled, holding up the caught ball.
It's a good thing he's a receiver for the Columbiana Clippers.
The senior was one of a score of players from the school's 58-member squad who turned out Thursday to help the summer program run by the Mahoning County Council for Retarded Citizens.
"The seniors came up with the idea, to do something for others," said Spaite, who begins his 10th year as Columbiana's head coach.
"Pay forward, never pay back," Spaite said in paraphrasing a talk by legendary Ohio State coach Woody Hayes.
Spaite's emphasis on the late coach's words were meant to inspire action. So his seniors and the rest of the team took it to heart.
Giving back
"It's their show," said Spaite, who literally and figuratively sat on the sidelines for the field day-type event that took place in the school's gym and outside on the track.
"They latched onto it the last couple years and have undertaken similar, but smaller, projects in the community."
The arrival of four buses carrying Camp Rachel's load that traveled from Leonard Kirtz School in Austintown culminated the efforts of Kris Reash and Adam Fast with Tom Olenick.
Reash is the Columbiana middle school coach and Fast is the varsity team's senior quarterback. Olenick is a junior high teacher who is also with the campers' parent group.
"We thought it would be a great way to start giving back to the community, said Reash, a 20-year-old who attends YSU.
"It's player-driven," said Spaite, whose largest turnout of candidates in grades 9-12 started conditioning this week. Seventeen of the 58 are seniors.
However, two of three sessions were plagued with bad weather.
"We'd be just as far ahead going to Firestone Park pool and doing laps," Spaite joked of the drenched practice field. "We could slog through the rain, but the lightning chases you off."
Some of the football players took time off from jobs to attend the function.
Extra help
Also pitching in for the two-hour activity that included lunch and a medals ceremony was Columbiana's softball team.
Three of the team's 10 players on hand were Lindsay Cross, Kylee Crittenden and Whitney Goist.
Cross is a recent graduate while Crittenden and Goist will be juniors on the team which has won back-to-back Tri-County League championships.
Camp Rachel director is Jan Nelson with the Mahoning County Council.
"We take kids from all schools," she said of the 65 campers, who live with their families or are in foster care or group homes.
Counselors and volunteers supervise the eight different age groups ranging from 6 to 22.
The six-week program helps enrollees retain what they learned during the school year.
"Camp Rachel provides recreational opportunities so young people with disabilities have some structure and don't regress over the summer," Nelson said.
Since the counselors hired for the camp usually have an interest in special education, the program serves a two-fold purpose.
"We have a lot of people who are going into speech pathology, school psychology and maybe nursing, so they get experience that will help in their fields."
Nelson noted that Camp Rachel has been in existence for 46 years, previously as Camp Funshine and Beeghly Day Camp.
bassetti@vindy.com