Lehigh student athletes support community through Team Impact

Senior men’s wrestler, Ethan Smith ventured up to Mountaintop for his daily run. He laced his shoes and headed to Lehigh’s cross country routes.

He said he felt the ground beneath his feet, and heard his exhales as one foot followed the other for his daily 5k.

Smith said he was feeling good and decided to surpass his typical, planned 3.1 mile minimum and ended up running eight miles.

He challenged himself to complete a daily run throughout the month of September, to bring awareness to the community of children with disabilities or chronic illness in sports.

Smith partnered with Team Impact, an organization who provides children with disabilities or chronic illnesses a sense of community through sports teams. Leading up to the first large scale Lehigh Team Impact fundraiser — a 5k fundraiser on Halloween — Smith said he took on this mentally and physically taxing challenge.

“When I was tired, my legs hurt, (there were) long days of classes and a bunch of other workouts, I thought that kids are going through a lot harder things, and I could get on the treadmill or on the track and run a 5K,” Smith said. “No matter how I felt.”

Smith is a senior on the men’s wrestling team, and was introduced to Team Impact by volleyball senior Abby Felkai.

Felkai was also introduced to Team Impact by another Lehigh student athlete: former football tight end Jake Stalsitz. She said he encouraged her to apply to the fellowship summit in Boston over the summer.

At the summit, Felkai’s three-day training taught her skills to collaborate with the athletic department to raise awareness and increase program participation.

Now on campus, Felkai and Stalsitz are preparing for an event on Oct. 31, where they will host a Team Impact tailgate and relay before Lehigh’s home football game against Bucknell.

For Smith, this challenge was his way to support, advertise and bring awareness to the upcoming event. He said his final 5k at the end of September felt good but was bittersweet, because he enjoyed the motivation and personal accountability to do something difficult everyday.

Smith said he was satisfied with the month, but is planning on doing another challenge if they hit their fundraising goal.

Felkai said she’s always been passionate about service. She said Team Impact’s mission of connecting kids to sports teams stood out to her.

“Growing up, I played every sport across the board and that’s always been such a huge part of my life,” Felkai said. “Some kids don’t have that opportunity to experience sport like a lot of us do, and it hit me hard because (sports) have been so pivotal in my life.”

In the past, Lehigh’s men’s basketball, women’s field hockey and softball participated in the program. Currently, the football and baseball programs are matched with children.

The matches pair collegiate sports teams with a kid with a disability or chronic illness who would normally be unable to join an athletic team. Felkai said through the match programs, he sees how a student athlete’s efforts and relationships directly impact a child.

Junior football defensive lineman Preston Davis said sports have always been an escape for him, which is why the program and its mission is so important to him.

“Sports are a good outlet,” Davis said. “ It’s a way to be free.”

Davis said being able to help a child express themself is fulfilling. He said their match is a part of the team, cheering loudly on the sideline and rallying with the Mountain Hawks.

When the team’s match had a signing – imitating signings for high school athletes commiting to a university for athletics – junior Ignatious Williams said he immediately knew the program would be supportive.

“We have him to support us in all of our endeavors and we support him in everything he goes through,” Williams said.