Smiles Beyond Basketball

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Smiles Beyond Basketball
Women's Basketball Brings Joy To Texas Children's Hospital
Victoria White '18

Amidst the rainy day, busy cars and slick city streets on Dec. 16, within the walls of the Clinical Center at Texas Children's Hospital, are sounds of laughter, a whizzing basketball spinning on freshman Rakell Spencer's finger as giggles emerge from the colorful art room where senior Alyssa Michalke plays catch with a little girl living with cancer.

Despite going through chemotherapy treatments and infusions earlier that Friday morning, many kids got into the holiday spirit when the Texas A&M women's basketball team stopped by the leading pediatric cancer hospital in Texas, to spend the afternoon having fun with the kids, while in town for a December 17 game against Southern, an 81-58 victory.

"Community service is the platform that athletes have, whether it's male or female, high school, college or pro, it's time to give back for kids that look up to us in so many different ways, how we fix our hair, how we shoot the basketball, how we talk to the press," head coach Gary Blair said. "They want heroes right now and this is where our kids belong and feel good just giving back to the community."

The Women's Basketball Hall of Fame coach is passionate about community service and hosts an annual golf tournament benefiting the Special Olympics every May. This winter, the Maroon and White got the unique opportunity to spread joy to young fans around the sector of the hospital that specializes in hematology and cancer research.

According to the American Childhood Cancer Organization, an estimated 15,780 new cases between birth and 19 years old are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Although technology has increased survival rates, the recovery process is notoriously tough.

However, the kids wore dazzling smiles and vivacious attitudes especially when speaking to the Aggie athletes.

"You get the opportunity that most people don't get, to have an impact on people's lives like this," senior Taylor Cooper, who was named to the SEC Community Service Team for the 2015-16 season, said. "For us and some of the younger ones that we have on the team, it's good for them to get some experience in the community. Being around kids always makes you feel better. I love kids and it's one of my favorite things to do."

Interactions brought on many emotions, including empathy for sophomore Anriel Howard.

"As soon as I came in here, I had tears [in my eyes] before I even met anyone because it just touched my heart. I don't know how to explain it but it was very emotional for me," Howard said, wiping tears from her eyes. "When I actually got to meet each kid individually, it put a smile on my face."

The team enjoyed putting smiles on the kids' faces as well.

"They're really great," junior Khaalia Hillsman said. "Some of them were shy, but I feel like once we were like 'hey, I like your outfit' or 'you like Captain America? I like Captain America too!' then they started opening up more as we kept talking to them."

From shy smiles to fun-loving friendships, a few cute quips will stick out in Hillsman's mind.

"One of the little kids in the art room, her friend asked her what she was drawing," the 6-5 center said holding back laughter. "She said a planet and they said 'oh, which one?' She said 'Louisiana' and I thought that was so adorable."

Blair said the experience was just as good for the team as it was for the children and families they came to cheer up.

"Texas Children's Hospital is very good," Blair said. "I love the colors of the place. This is not a sad place, it's a happy place because they're making these kids better and I think that's the most important thing."

Hillsman gave a message of hope and perseverance to the kids.

"Not only do they look up to us, but I honestly look up to them," she said. "Being a role model to them, I just want them to know that they can do whatever they want to do. It doesn't matter if you're sick, it doesn't matter if it takes [you] a little longer to get back healthy, you can do whatever you want to do."

The significant scorer for the Aggies said that volunteering was a very humbling experience.

"What I take back is that you have to realize how blessed you are, you have to realize that other people really do have it out there harder than we do," Hillsman said. "So for them to be able to still find positive lifestyles and for them to still be productive in their lives, there should be no excuse for me to not being able to do my best."

Howard said for her it was life-changing and influenced her perspective and even motivation going into the game the following day.

"It makes us want to go harder like just play harder for them, just be the best person that we can be because they're going through something that we don't know," Howard said. "It just makes us look at the world differently. This game I feel like will be a dedication to them."

As the team strives to help others out around the holidays, they grow on-and-off the court and conquer through community service, emerging as exciting to watch, well-rounded role models at Texas A&M.

"It helps our team chemistry," Cooper said. "Even though we're already pretty close just being able to go out and do things together as a group, help people and use our core values at Texas A&M, I think that's really good for our team."

The women's basketball team can add smiling with new friends and exemplifying the core value of selfless service while visiting Texas Children's Hospital to the list of meaningful memories this year.

"Hopefully what we can do is uplift them and give them a couple of basketballs, teach them a couple of dribbles and put a smile on their face," Blair said.
Aggies76
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DDMOVERS
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AG
Visited Shiners Hospital in California in 1995 when I played in the Shrine Bowl (Texas vs California) and that was a visit / moment in life I will never forget! Amazing moment seeing those kids smile to see a new person visiting them. Great Job Coach Blair and Lady Aggies Basketball Team!
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