NORFOLK, Va. – It was the last Saturday night in March and three young women with Down Syndrome, who were line dancing just feet away from the deejay, were intensely focused on matching their steps with the beat.
On the other side of the dance floor, Tara Enneking, an Old Dominion swimmer, was involved in a dance-off with a young man in a Chicago Bulls jersey. She danced solo, then tapped him on the shoulder to let him know it was his turn.
And with all due respect to Tara, the crowd reaction indicated the young man had better moves.
All around the ODU Volleyball Center, student-athletes, adults with disabilities and their relatives danced the night away. A young man in a wheelchair smiled as he wheeled himself around the floor waving a glow stick.
A din of excited chatter and laughter could be heard in between songs.
Click to see short Sneaker Ball video
The event was called the "Sneaker Ball" – you're supposed to wear sneakers on the volleyball court, right? And it was conceived and coordinated by Ryan Parncutt, a remarkable young women who was a defender for the women's soccer team that won conference titles the last two seasons.
She was inspired to put on a dance for young adults with disabilities after attending a Sun Belt Conference meeting in Louisiana in which student-athletes shared ideas for how to help their communities.
ODU has done a field day, something natural for athletes to host, with disabled adults. But a dance? It was a first.
She did so with a budget of $91 – student-athletes raised money from a Valentine's Day fund raiser in which athletes paid $1 apiece to send candy grahams to other student-athletes.
Ryan Parncutt, second from right.
She found an ODU professor willing to pay for the deejay, who charged far less than he normally does. She worked with athletics officials to set up the dance in the volleyball center. She bought and/or convinced people to donate gift bags, streamers, balloons and glow sticks.
"You can do a lot of great things with a small budget," Parncutt said.
This was indeed a great event. More than 50 student-athletes mingled with 75 or so young adults, most of whom were affiliated with Aid Another, a Virginia Beach group founded a few years ago by Christine Ross to help give adults with disabilities more chances to interact and have fun.
Ross founded the group after learning that one of her sons has autism, and then discovered how little help there was in the community for him.
"I just wanted my son to have the same life that my older son had," Ross said.
Parncutt reached out to Ross in January "and honestly when I got her phone call, I thought it was God-sent," Ross said.
"She's young and wanted to do something outside of the box. She had the guts to call someone she's never met without any idea of what we would say. She's been efficient, on time and easy to work with, which is awesome, especially for a very young adult."
Parncutt is your classic overachiever. She will graduate in May, a year early, with a degree in career and technical education with concentration in marketing education, and will work on a Master's degree in the fall. She's the student leader of community engagement for ODU's 450 athletes.
And did I mention that she's an honor student?
When I called to reach her a few days before the dance, she texted me that she would get back to me later, after her bible study class was over.
Truth be told, it is at events such as the Sneaker Ball where you see the true character of ODU's athletes.
Last fall, ODU's athletes worked more than 2,400 hours of volunteer time in the community, whether it was helping Mercy Meals feed the homeless, reading and mentoring students in the Norfolk public schools or running food and clothing drives for the needy.
ODU athletes practice hard, compete hard and study hard – they had a record combined grade point average in the fall semester. And they also give back to their community.
You can't help but be touched when you see a volleyball player dancing with a young guy in a wheelchair, a men's basketball player washing the feet of elementary school children and then fitting them with new shoes or a football player reading to children at an inner-city school.
Ryan Parncutt
The young adults clearly had a blast. On their way out, some stopped to hug everyone wearing ODU attire. It was such a touching sight.
"We want our student-athletes to learn to be servant-leaders when they are away from here," said Amy Lynch, ODU's director of student-athlete services. "This is just the beginning of their life and their journey of giving back to the community."
Parncutt has worked with autistic children and said one of her objectives was to expose ODU athletes to working with adults with disabilities.
"The rest of the world sees something like that as an uncomfortable environment," she said. "It's a tough situation for some people to deal with and some don't really know how to respond in that environment."
Not to worry. Members of the ODU women's volleyball, men's and women's swimming, field hockey, women's soccer, rowing and dance teams mingled with and danced with the 75 or so adults like they were old friends.
Parncutt could not stop smiling.
"This was absolutely wonderful," she said. "To see this idea actually happen was amazing. It was just pure joy to see everyone with a smile on their face."
The young adults and their families will be honored at Saturday's baseball game against Coastal Carolina at Bud Metheny Ballpark. And Ross said she hopes the Sneaker Ball becomes an annual event.
"Everyone had an amazing time," she said. "This is probably something they will remember the rest of their lives.
"Ryan is such an awesome person. But so were all of the ODU athletes who helped. You could see that they truly care."
Contact Minium at hminium@odu.edu or follow him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram
Minium: ODU Athletes Poured Their Hearts Into Hosting 'Sneaker Ball' for Young Adults With Disabilities
