With the result assured, Waimea High School head coach Jason Caldeira gave a chance to one of his players to be on the field in a Kauai Interscholastic Federation football season finale at Vidinha Stadium “It was good, that one,”
With the result assured, Waimea High School head coach Jason Caldeira gave a chance to one of his players to be on the field in a Kauai Interscholastic Federation football season finale at Vidinha Stadium
“It was good, that one,” Travis Planas said about playing Saturday.
In the Menehune’s last possession, Planas lined up at receiver in his first play in a varsity game.
“We got everybody in, and he was just standing there. I said to him, ‘Travis, get over here,’” Caldeira said. “It took us about three times to yell at him, ‘Travis, get over here.’ We just made him line up at wide receiver. Then we had to get him out because we had to punt. At the end of the game, we put him in at middle linebacker when they took a knee.”
Listed as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 245 pounds, the sophomore defensive lineman is an imposing figure. His mom, Traci, described him as a “gentle giant.”
“He just loves to be on that field whether he’s playing or not,” she said. “He’s just a happy kid and he wants to play.”
He, however, isn’t like the other players. He has Fragile X syndrome.
“It’s, how they explained it to me, it’s a genetic thing where you have your X and Y chromosomes and one of the legs in his X chromosome is missing a link,” Traci said explaining her son’s disability. “Right now, he’s moderate I.D., or intellectual disability. He tends to be a little bit slower at thinking compared to the other regular kids.”
Because Planas is a special needs student, Traci feared the day when he was enrolled in high school and wanted to play.
“I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. Now I have to do it.’ I thought he’d forget, but he didn’t. So I went and talked with the school. I talked to Jon Kobayashi, the athletic director,” she said. “They did tell me, because he’s a special needs student, there’s some liabilities and that he may not even get on the team. I told him, ‘I just want them to give him the opportunity. If he cannot do it, then just tell him.’”
Planas said he likes practicing drills and lifting weights with the team. He also likes putting on the pads.
On Sundays, Planas likes watching the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and the team’s Oahu-born quarterback, Marcus Mariota.
He’s always wanted to play since he was a kid. Unfortunately, he was too big to play Pop Warner football, so he had to wait until high school.
“When he got to sixth grade, we were watching his cousins play. They played for Waimea High School,” Traci said. “He just came to me one day and said, ‘Mom, I’m going to play football with the big boys when I go to the big boy school.’”
Though allowing her son to play concerns her, Traci hopes football gives her son a platform to learn to be independent for when he reaches adulthood.
“I let him do a lot of things on his own because it’s the only way he’s going to learn,” she said. “If I baby him like I did when he was little, I’m actually tying his hands together. That’s what made me decide to let him play.”
Planas became part of the program last year as a freshman with the junior varsity team. Caldeira remembers when Planas was presented his equipment.
“It was like getting a new toy. He was so excited. He was going, “Hey, this is my helmet.” I asked his mom, “Did he sleep with it?” I think he wanted to,” Caldeira said. “He’s just so proud of his equipment. He was so proud to be part of the team.”
Menhune sophomore quarterback and defensive back Keaka Wisneski said Planas “brings positive vibes” to the team.
“He might be special, but he’s special to us. He’s always giving his 100 percent,” Wisneski said. “Yeah, it was different. But after we adjusted to him, he became family to us. We treat him like he’s our brother.”
Caldeira added he was willing to take Planas in because he understands more than most what he and his family are going through.
His 7-year-old daughter, Hope, has cerebral palsy and is “100 percent dependent” Caldeira and his wife, Darrellyne.
“I’m open to it. I’m understanding about that,” he said. “She (Traci) totally understood. She was just grateful for the chance. She understood if we just wanted to make him a team manager or if we kept him on the team.”
In the team’s White and Blue spring exhibition game in May, Calderia ran what he called the “Travis Special.” On the offense’s 20-yard line, Planas was handed off the ball and with a wall of blockers surrounding him, he ran for a touchdown. He spiked the ball in the endzone and was mobbed by teammates.
“It’s a real uplifting thing for everyone to see that. Travis is with us every day. We kind of looked past that already. He’s one of us,” Caldeira said. “We just wanted to give him that feel. Something he can say that he was in the game. He deserved that.”
“I think the whole crowd was in tears just watching it. It was really touching,” Traci said about her son’s touchdown run. “Just that one chance that Coach Caldeira did for him, that’s his dream come true. That’s what he did. He made my son’s dream come true.”
Wisneski was the one that handed Planas the ball in that play.
“It was a special moment for everybody, especially for him,” Wisneski said. “It was an honor to do that for him. It was an honor to give him the ball.”
In Saturday’s game, though it wasn’t like scoring a touchdown in the spring game, being part of an actual KIF varsity game was special for her family.
“My dad, he’s old now. He told me he wants to see Travis play at least one game. I said, ‘OK. I don’t know when he’s going to be on the field, but he’s going to be on the team,” Traci said. “When the coach put him in the last play, he didn’t do much. But my dad got to see him on the field.”
