Visit to Children's Hospital Special for Chippewas
12/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MIAMI - While the Central Michigan football team was preparing to hit the practice field for the last time ahead of the Miami Beach Bowl, four Chippewas made a special trip on Sunday morning to Baptist Children's Hospital to visit patients.
CMU players Winslow Chapman, Eric Cooper, Jesse Kroll and Romello Ross, along with Chippewa cheer team members Kate Odykirk, Taylor-Kai Hunt and Nikki Wiedbusch, went room to room at the hospital, visiting and chatting with the children and their parents, handing out CMU football gifts, and posing for photos.
"We're really grateful to be here, and grateful to these families for allowing us to come in," Kroll said. "It puts things in perspective. The battles that they have are way more important, way more significant than any football game.
"I'm happy that me and Winslow and Coop and Romello had the opportunity to come here and represent CMU together."
None of the four Chippewas who visited the hospital will play, because of injury, in Monday's game against Tulsa (2:30 p.m.) at Marlins Park. While that is certainly a disappointing turn, particularly for the seniors, Kroll and Winslow, making the hospital visit on behalf of the program and the university was a way for each to make an impact.
"Even if I was playing, I would have hoped they would have chosen me to come and do this," said Chapman, who recalled the 2014 Bahamas Bowl, when the Chippewas participated in a youth football clinic. "The Bahamas, we were able to go and teach kids how to play football. When I knew there was another opportunity to help out, I took it."
For Kroll, whose college career ended in the fourth game of the season because of a knee injury, the visit took a personal, almost emotional, turn.
"When I look at my own injury it's so minor compared to what some of these families may be dealing with," said Kroll, a Mid-American Conference Distinguished Scholar Athlete who finished his career with 1,770 yards and nine touchdowns on 117 receptions. "I can relate to it a little bit. I had a family member of mine who was in a car accident over 10 years ago and she had to spend over a month in a children's hospital. She was in a coma for a while.
"I don't want to say I understand what these families are going through, but I can sympathize with them. It's very difficult, but it's great to see the positivity. Definitely sending prayers their way."
