A blueprint for inclusion: Field of Dreams hosts Shore special needs high school kickball
TOMS RIVER – Seven years ago I watched as Christian Kane rolled out drawings on his dining room table for an ambitious plan concocted by he and his wife, Mary, to build a one-of-a-kind recreation area designed specifically for special needs kids like their son, Gavin.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning at the RWJ Barnabas Health Field of Dreams. High school pep bands from Toms River North and Toms River East played in the outfield. Students from each school ringed the diamond for what was billed as the field's first-ever high school kickball game for teams of special needs students.
For Kane, a teacher at Toms River North, this was always the vision, creating moments like this by using athletics to bridge gaps, while bringing communities together. And over the last two years it was Kane spearheading the start of the Unified Sports programs in the high schools, featuring special needs athletes competing alongside student “buddies,” with school staff members serving as coaches.
“This is what I pictured in my head,” said Kane, who has emerged as a tireless advocate since his son, now 13, sustained a traumatic brain injury when their car was rear-ended in 2012.
“If you start it now, in 20 or 30 years it will be like the norm. And then if somebody wanted to build one of these and they start trying to go out and get donations, they won’t have to do what I had to do, explaining what a special need is and what a special needs complex is. These kids are going to be working, maybe have their own business and they’ll be approached about something like this and they’ll say, ‘I know, I used to volunteer.’ One of the goals is to get those younger kids to understand what inclusion means as they grow into adults.”
The atmosphere Tuesday was like a championship game, with mascots interacting with fans and the public address announcer introducing each player, with the crowd noise rising and falling with each play as the school district TV station broadcast the game.
“It’s nice to get together like this and have some of these kids who aren’t in the limelight experience this. I think that’s the best part of it for us,” said Toms River North principal Ed Keller. “As I was watching them get on the bus, I thought to myself, ‘every one of these kids is fantastic.’ It’s incredible to have everyone be a part of this. I think it’s just great.”
“I wish I had known about this sooner,” said Toms River East senior Casey Shapiro, one of the buddies on the kickball team. “You see how much everyone gets out this.”
Athletics for all
The Unified Sports programs, which began in the Toms River schools in 2022, now feature teams competing in flag football, soccer and basketball, as well as kickball. Flag football was a big success in the fall, and as always, Kane is thinking even bigger.
“I want to get high schools to play each other,” he said. “That is the goal, to see how many Shore Conference schools I can get to embrace this so that now we have a Shore Conference special needs league, That’s in my head. In three years that’s what I want. Every week a big matchup. East versus North, Wall versus Ocean, Central versus Lacey, Brick versus Brick Memorial. That’s my goal.”
The Field of Dreams is a beehive of activity throughout most of the year, including Inspirational Flag Football in the fall. Toms River resident Steve Geiger, a retired Marine, and his wife, Lindsey, started the Inspirational program five years ago.
“We have a daughter with special needs and initially we started the program with Toms River Warriors AYF and Cheer,” said Geiger, on hand to help Tuesday. “Then we got introduced to Christian who loved the idea here and he said, ‘I want you to run it.’ So I’m the director of football, my wife is the director of cheer. Last year was our first year under the RWJ Barnabas title and it is a blessing.
“We have football games every Monday in the fall. Our first game is with Toms River police, then the local high school teams, and then Rutgers comes down. Our daughter tried cheer, didn’t like it, but loves to throw the football so it was something she connected with and loved being out there with other teammates.”
Not done yet
Making his way around the sprawling Field of Dreams facility, Kane’s like a proud father as he points out some of the new features since it opened two years ago, including an indoor cultivation space featuring a large setup to grow vegetables hydroponically, along with two fish tanks housing 200 small Tilapia.
It’s part of the next phase of the Field of Dreams project, as Kane hopes to help meet the needs of special needs adults, with eight different groups rotating in to throughout the year to tend to the operation.
“In two or three weeks we’re going to have 600 heads of lettuce, which we donate that to local food banks,” Kane said. “The last thing we’re going to work on is selling it to farm-to-table restaurants. So that this thing is not only sustainable but it’s profitable. And it’s all year around.”
As for what’s next, I can’t wait to see. But if what transpired Tuesday morning is any indication, it’s likely to have a positive impact on many local families who deserve a lift.
Stephen Edelson is a USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey sports columnist who has been covering athletics in the state and at the Jersey Shore for over 35 years. Contact him at: @SteveEdelsonAPP; sedelson@gannettnj.com.
This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ Shore disabilities, special needs kickball a first for Field of Dreams
