Cooper’s Big Game

You may have seen our Facebook post sharing the NBC-2 story about Cooper’s Big Game.  Since then, we got to talk with Cooper’s father, Billy Griffin, and Riverdale Raiders Football Coach, James Delgado more about this special event.

Cooper has Down syndrome and participates in programming at GiGi’s Playhouse of Fort Myers.  His adorable smile is even featured in our Welcome Windows, greeting everyone who comes by.   There he is in the lower right!  We have always been so proud of Cooper and his family.

Recently, his family moved to a new home so that Cooper could attend a certain school program.  “We first met staff from there when they participated in a Buddy Walk last year,” Billy explained, “Cooper latched onto them very quickly.”   What they have experienced since goes beyond their hopes and dreams.

NBC reports that two years ago Riverdale High School’s football coach, James Delgado, started having his players assist with carline every Friday at the elementary school nearby.  This has resulted in an increase in school-wide attendance on Fridays where a drop-off in attendance is the norm at most schools.  Cooper was particularly excited about these visits and soon was invited to become an honorary member of the Riverdale Raiders football team because of his special bond with the team.  He was even invited to lead the team onto the field at their Senior Night recently!  Coach Delgado tells us, “Our players naturally drew towards Cooper like so many other people do and thought it would be neat to have him join us as an honorary captain. I don’t know that they had any idea how much this would mean to everyone but I’m so proud of them for their hearts to care for others. We coordinated with Dr. Barfield at River Hall and she set up a meeting with the Griffin family on a Friday knowing that we would be there helping open car doors and being prepared to present Cooper with his jersey. The Griffins had no idea why they were there and it proved to be an emotional surprise for everyone!”

Then came Coopers Big Game!  Coach Delgado tells us, “It was such an important game because we were honoring our seniors as it was the last regular-season home game of the year. It was also the last game we played in October so we were doing a pink out to honor breast cancer awareness and honoring Cooper to help shed light onto Down Syndrome awareness. Having Cooper on the field with us was such a blessing. Seeing our kids genuinely enjoy him does the heart good! To gain a victory over a good football team was icing on the cake but I felt like we were already winners before the game ever kicked off.”  We could not agree more!

This story is about Cooper’s friendship with the Raiders football team; however, Cooper’s dad noted, “It seems like everyone is making a big deal over Cooper, but I think for this particular school they make a big deal of every student. We celebrate this because it is acceptance–not just DS acceptance but acceptance of everyone regardless of their uniqueness. Dr. Barfield and her staff are real super heroes.”

“GO RAIDERS!” you can hear Cooper exclaim while filming for the news story with his team.  His parents report this was the first time he put two words together.  To say that Cooper is inspired by his team seems to be an understatement! 

At GiGi’s Playhouse, we celebrate the spirit of what we call “Generation G”, a challenge to ALL people to “Be accepting.  Be generous.  Be Kind.”   While our focus is especially on people with Down syndrome, we can be inspired by the real-life super heroes in our midst to use this outlook in every moment every day!  Join us by taking the Generation G Promise at https://gigisplayhouse.org/fortmyers/generation-g/ .  Your promise is a daily reminder to always act with acceptance and generosity.

Thank you to the Griffin Family for providing pictures from Cooper’s Big Game.

Thank you to Coach Delgado for sharing his reflections with us.

Thank you to NBC-2 for covering this awesome story.