HESSTON, Kan. – On any given day throughout the school year, the Hesston College baseball team could be found preparing for their season. From practices to the weightroom to games, not to mention academics, college athletes have a lot of demand placed upon them and their schedules.
But for the 2025-26 Larks, Monday evenings had a standing date – and it was sacred. That’s when members of the team headed next door to Schowalter Villa to play Beanbag Baseball with residents in health care and assisted living.
The game is simple – the baseball diamond resembles a cornhole board but with more holes for single, double, triple, homerun and outs. Participants split into teams and players take turns “at bat”. They have three tries to get a hit or make an out by throwing their beanbag into a hole. If none of the bags find a hole on the board, it’s three strikes and out.
The evenings were marked with laughter, cheers, conversation and, of course, a healthy dose of friendly competition.
“A couple of years ago, my own grandfather moved into a retirement community and introduced me to Beanbag Baseball,” said Kyle Olson, head coach of the Larks baseball program. “When telling me stories about the residents playing and how much fun they were having, I immediately thought about Schowalter Villa. The overlap with us being a baseball team was just too east to pass up in terms of opportunity for our guys to interact with the residents while doing something that could be fun for both organizations.”
Working with the Schowalter Villa Life Enrichment team, the two organizations made plans for Beanbag Baseball, but selling the idea to a group of college-age young men might be a different story.
“I thought it might be a tough sell for our guys,” said Olson. “Convincing 20-year-olds to get out of their dorm for an hour on Monday nights to do something like this is not always the easiest. After the first couple of weeks, the guys were coming back with joy on their faces and stories about the fun they’d had. It became a thing that they got to do instead of something they had to do.”
Over the course of the school year, reputations were formed – Richard’s focus and determination, James’ jokes – and connections were built. For some of the college students, the evenings spent with their Schowalter Villa friends helped fill some of the gaps of missing their own grandparents.
“I grew up at a distance from my grandpa, but I really looked up to him,” said Colby Simkins, a sophomore from Onaga, Kansas. “When he passed away, I didn’t get to say goodbye and I didn’t have closure from that. Some of the residents here have reminded me of him in different ways. That’s helped to bring some closure, and to have that kind of interaction again as been nice for me.”
With a team of about 50 young men, Coach Olson set up a rotation to give all of the guys a regular chance to attend the weekly event. Before long, players were eagerly volunteering to fill gaps.
“As someone who has lost almost all of my grandparents, this experience has been really great for me,” said Jackson Lambert, a freshman from Spanish Fort, Alabama. “I’ve loved spending time here and seeing residents’ faces light up and have fun. It’s brought me a lot of joy.”
With their time together winding down, the baseball team wanted to be sure to honor the friends they had made at Schowalter Villa. In early April the team invited residents to be their special guests at a home game. The team rolled out the red carpet for their guests. Members of the team helped push wheelchairs the two blocks to Oswald Field where they were greeted by Larks lining the sidewalk. Residents were situated behind the home plate backstop where they were provided with popcorn, and two regular Beanbag Baseball player residents even threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
“We want to create a sense of belonging in our program, and Beanbag Baseball at Schowalter Villa has been a way for these young men to have an impact on the community,” said Coach Olson. “The guys have embraced this as a program standard, and I can’t wait to see how it continues to impact our program in the fut