By Griffin Barfield
On Saturday, April 19, the only University-level cerebral palsy soccer program of its kind in the country, Clemson Paralympic Soccer, made history.
The team played and defeated the CP Soccer All Stars 6-1 at Historic Riggs Field at their first real match in program history.
While the players lifted a trophy for the win, they weren’t just thrilled with the hardware: they were ecstatic that they even had the opportunity to play.
Shea Hammond is a graduate student in communication who has been with the team for several years, the first undergraduate player in the program’s history. Seeing the event come together was enough to inspire a win.
“It’s the name of the field. It’s historic,” Hammond said after the game. “To finally play on this field, it’s historic. It’s indescribable.”
Head coach and assistant professor in the Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, Felipe Tobar, watched his players’ dreams come true that afternoon. Many of them had dreamed of playing collegiate sports after high school, a period where many athletes with cerebral palsy (CP) stop playing.
“We’d like to say thank you to the community and the fanbase who supported us,” Tobar said. “They had a dream to play in a college stadium and they accomplished it.”
Four different Clemson players scored, while Hammond scored a hat-trick with all three of his goals coming in the second half. One player, Tyler Bennett, is a team alumnus and one of the first two players to join the program in 2017. Bennett brought practices featuring movements, passing and other workouts from the U.S. CP National Team.
It was a new Clemson experience for Bennett, coming back to campus and playing in a full game of soccer with CP rules.
“I think it went well for the program,” Bennett said. “They showed that if you’re training here full-time, you’re going to do pretty well.”
Many faces from the Clemson Men’s and Women’s Soccer teams were present. Flags flew and celebrations commenced in the stands whenever a player scored. The entire women’s lacrosse team attended, surprising goalkeeper Max Alberici, the team’s manager.
That wasn’t the best moment of the game in Alberici’s opinion, however. His favorite experience came from watching substitute goalkeeper, Ethan Donahue, play. He joined the team several weeks before the match after Hammond recruited him on campus. Donahue and his disability were welcomed by the team in open arms.
“I was more happy to get him in the game,” Alberici said.
“There’s no relationship like an adaptive sport relationship,” Hammond said, “and like a CP soccer family.”
The match was the last that this team will play all together, as they say goodbye to Hammond following five seasons with the program. As he graduates from Clemson, Hammond looks forward to working with cerebral palsy and Paralympic athletes in the future.
“That’s a lifetime of work that I’m going to commit to and making sure that we can grow this program in this sport as much as possible,” Hammond said.
For Tobar, the practices and cultivation of this match proved to be a great success. Earlier in the week, the team played Daniel High School in a scrimmage to prepare for the game. Now, Tobar and his team are “blessed and honored” to have the opportunity to represent Clemson.
“That’s the only official game that we will play as a team,” Tobar said. “I could not be more proud.”
