Created in 2010 and adopted by hundreds of schools across the U.S., unique event lets participants showcase football skills
MONROE — After scoring two touchdowns in one day, Austin Price celebrated his victories in front of the goalposts at Navarre Field on Saturday morning, Aug. 23, as a line of cheerleaders offered their support with cheers and poms.
Price, 21, was one of 60 participants ages 7 to 26, from across Monroe County, who took part in the third annual Monroe Victory Day, a community event that offers a unique football experience for individuals with significant disabilities. Participants take part in football drills and score touchdowns with the support of local high school athletes while being rooted for by an announcer, band and family and friends in the bleachers.
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Victory Day was created in 2010 by Trenton teacher and football coach Aaron Segedi. As a cancer survivor and recipient of a liver transplant, Segedi started Victory Day as a way to give back to the community following his second chance at life.
“I came up with this idea of service, of giving these special needs kids an opportunity to have their moment on the gridiron,” Segedi told Detroit Catholic from the sidelines of Navarre Field. “What started off as a little seed has now bloomed into hundreds of schools and universities across the country that implement the program.”
Segedi cannot make it to every Victory Day across the country, and he hopes that someday all schools across the country will host the event on the same day. He also dreams of one day involving the NFL.
In Monroe, Segedi gets to be a spectator, as Kyle McElvany, director of Monroe Victory Day and the director of inclusion and assistant football coach at St. Mary Catholic Central High School, runs the show.
This year, McElvany oversaw 100 high school football players from SMCC, Monroe High School, Airport High School, Erie Mason High School, Jefferson High School and Ida High School who took part in the event. Participants are paired with several football buddies, who escort them down the field to a touchdown.
SMCC student and football player Cole Reinhart, 16, was paired with Price. While this was Reinhart's first Victory Day, it was Price’s third.
“I think a lot of people don’t even realize how much is out there in the world, disability-wise,” Price said. “Don’t say you can’t do it, don’t say you can’t come to Victory Day, and you can’t play football because it is not true.”
Parents Claire and Greg Schafer cheered on two of their children as they stood on the sidelines — their son Bennet, a football player at SMCC, and their daughter Mairin, 14, a participant.
“This event means a lot to Mairin because she wants to keep up with her brother and sister, and this is an opportunity to show her athletic prowess,” Greg Schaefer said. “Victory Day brings a lot of empathy to the community to help and understand what some people struggle with and how they deal with the challenges of life. Putting things in perspective is huge; it’s an opportunity for people to relate to others and enjoy time together.”
McElvany, who was hired at SMCC in 2018 as the director of the school’s then-new St. Andre Bessette Open Door Inclusion Program, said working with fellow students with special needs and disabilities is second nature to the high schoolers at SMCC, yet their capacity for compassion and support surprises him every year during Victory Day.
“For a lot of these high school volunteers, this might be their first time at Victory Day, and we hope that our students at SMCC model how to communicate, have empathy, compassion and patience,” McElvany said. “These kids surprise me every year — they are so good with the participants, and it's just cool to see 100 high school football players on a Saturday morning on their day off in the middle of football season here taking care of these participants.”
For McElvany, Monroe Victory Day fits into the school’s goal of being inclusive while teaching empathy and compassion and spreads the impact out to the larger community.
“This is the Gospel in action right now,” McElvany said. “Kids from all different socioeconomic backgrounds, schools, communities, all together for one reason, and that is to support these young men and women."
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