Spartans’ volleyball Hollister’s world

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SYCAMORE – The door opens and Earl Hollister quickly rolls through in his wheelchair.

Practice has already begun and Earl is a little late, so he hopes he hasn’t missed a thing.

If you’ve ever seen Sycamore volleyball play, you’ve likely seen Hollister.

He’s there, sitting by the bench, a student assistant on a team headed to the state semifinals for the second time in three seasons.

The Spartans will play against Breese Mater Dei at 4:30 p.m. today at Illinois State’s Redbird Arena.

And Hollister will be there, sitting at the end of the bench. For each match, the team moves two chairs from the floor and Hollister, a student assistant, pulls his motorized wheelchair up.

Over the past three years, Hollister hasn’t missed many matches. This year, he missed only one, a loss at Geneva.

“We got along,” Klock said. “And we starting winning. He’s our good luck charm.”

Hollister preferred to have Klock answer most of the questions for him because he trusts her so much.
Since he was born, Hollister has been confined to a wheelchair with arthrogryposis, a genetic problem that causes multiple joint contractures. He has tubes that help him breathe and eat and he has a nurse with him at almost all times.

The 20-year-old spends his days taking classes both online and through a special program at Kishwaukee College along with spending time at Opportunity House in DeKalb, learning life skills.

Whenever the Spartans are playing, however, Hollister is there.

“It’s his world,” said registered nurse Helen Lewis, who spends three nights a week with Hollister. “That’s all he’ll talk about. He talks about the girls and the plays and I don’t even know what to tell him.”

Lewis said that Hollister’s severe scoliosis of his spine means that he has to have a tube to breath, and at night he’s placed on a ventilator as a safety precaution.

Hollister’s parents, Corki and Ken, drive him to each match and then they go sit in the stands, with the rest of the parents, while Earl does his job.

“We like having him come to our practices and we always like having him here,” senior Justine Schepler said. “We crack jokes with him and it’s just fun to have him around.”

The last time the Spartans made it to the state semifinals, the IHSA put a ramp up so Hollister could come up on the stage, have his name announced and get his medal.

“Earl is Earl,” Klock said. “He’s a person to me and it’s not about his handicap. That’s why Sycamore allows me to teach the adapted program as if there is no handicap and that’s the way he should be treated.”

In the world of Sycamore volleyball, that’s exactly how it goes.

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