Nolan Kruse has spent his youth and high school career kicking a ball.
The Delone Catholic senior is a starter on the varsity boys soccer team and a two-time Div. III all-star kicker. He splits his weeks in the fall with football practice and games on Wednesdays and Fridays and soccer practices and games the rest of the week.
It’s a challenge, mentally and physically, but one he knows he’s blessed to have. He knows not everyone is that lucky.
So, he’s using his football talents to raise money to help kids with cancer through Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
“One of my football coaches last season went through a really tough battle with cancer,” Kruse said. “Though it’s not childhood, any cancer is cancer. It’s hard to see, hard to look at people who have it, hard to see family members who deal with that cancer.”
He connected with Alex’s Lemonade Stand during a summer kicking camp in Tennessee. Officials explained that kickers could seek flat donations or pledges for touchbacks, field goals and extra points through the official website. They put out a sheet for kickers to sign up.
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Out of hundreds of kickers at the camp, there were only two names on the sheet.
“I saw two names on that list to help these kids with cancer,” Kruse said. “I just felt like it would be good to make a change.”
And he signed up.
He would like to raise at least $2,500 in the campaign. Last year he connected on 41 extra points and four field goals. This year he would like to hit a combined 50, with at least 10 field goals.
He doesn’t really have a say in having attempts to reach those goals. Extra points require touchdowns and field goals require coaches giving him the chance instead of going for it on fourth down.
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Kruse said he likes the mental and physical differences between football and soccer.
“Football, especially with kicking, you have to lock in, do your job in that moment. You can’t have a mistake or else it’s pretty costly,” he said. “But soccer, you have teammates to back you up, and you can move on to the next play.”
Delone had its first football game on Aug. 23, and Kruse finished with a 31-yard field goal and an extra point.
People can donate a flat fee or can pledge a specified amount per field goal or extra point. Both methods are explained on his webpage : https://www.alexslemonade.org/2024/kicking-childhood-cancer .
Kruse, who would like to kick at the college level, explains on his page that he wants his athletic experience “to be more than just about individual and team goals and successes. I want to use my abilities to kick a football to fight against childhood cancer.”
Shelly Stallsmith covers York-Adams high school sports for GameTimePA and the USAToday Network. Connect with her by email mstallsmith@ydr.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @ShelStallsmith.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Delone Catholic senior kicking childhood cancer through field goals, extra point tries
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