Giving Back: Shaun Lewis

Giving Back: Shaun Lewis

From the Bronx to Miami to Jacksonville, REALTOR® and Bambino Buddy Ball Coach, Shaun Lewis Keeps His Head in the Game

By Michelle Williamson

When Shaun Lewis left his hometown, the Bronx, NY, for college with his thengirlfriend now-wife, Anika, and a few friends, for college in Miami “to experience new things,” he certainly didn’t envision where the couple would be today. Back then, he was simply trying to figure out how to navigate college life away from home for the first time—buying food, doing laundry, learning to manage money.

There was no way to know in 2005 that today he would be a Jacksonville REALTOR® with RE/ MAX Connects, a father of three, and a baseball coach for differently-abled children, all while raising his own differently-abled twin.

Shaun’s twin boys were his inspiration for becoming a coach with Bambino Buddy Ball.

BECOMING PARENTS

Shaun and Anika left Miami for Jacksonville when Shaun decided to transfer to Jacksonville University in 2006 to play football at the school. Anika enrolled in a nursing program there. The pair had to grow up fast. “I remember sitting with Anika in a downtown Jacksonville parking lot in our car wondering where we’d live and how we’d do in a city neither of us had ever visited,” he reflects. The couple managed. Shaun played football as a walk-on; he earned his playing time and soon earned a starting position at defensive end. “I eventually played in every game and held a major role helping turn the program around,” he shares.

After they graduated, Shaun with a bachelor’s degree in business management and Anika with a nursing degree, they both began working. Then, in 2014, they became the parents of twin boys, Cason and Carter, who turned eight last October. Then along came their now two-year-old daughter, “boss baby,” Chloe.

Cason and Carter were born at 25 weeks and five days. Both have faced their own challenges early on in life. Cason has cerebral palsy and is non-verbal in a wheelchair while Carter has had to navigate unseen learning challenges. At birth, both boys had brain bleeds because they were so premature. Cason did fine in the hospital; he only had minor hernia surgery. Carter, however, had multiple surgeries and came home with a shunt. In all, the family spent four and a half months in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). “It was the longest four and a half months of our lives,” Shaun shares. “We spent time with the boys every night. We would both leave work to head downtown to the hospital, and we would just sit and take turns holding our boys until it was time to go home. Then we’d wake up and do it all over again.”

Shaun is dedicated to providing a fun, fulfilling life for his family.

In 2015, Shaun decided to change his career track. He left his role in the corporate world and became a REALTOR® to have more availability for his family. Today, now eight years in, he continues to grow his business in Northeast Florida. Shaun is a relationship-builder and loves his career. He believes that relationships are much more important than just closing a transaction. He explains, “People are trusting me with their biggest asset while going through what may be a major lifestyle change. Marriage, empty nesters, divorce, firsttime buyers, and so on. It’s just as important to me as it is for them.”

THE BAMBINO BUDDY BALL LEAGUE

As the boys grew older, Shaun searched for activities for Cason–as Carter plays soccer, basketball, and football–and realized there were not a lot of sports activities for differently-abled children. Then Anika found Buddy Ball through a social media connection. “A social worker my wife knows asked on Facebook if Cason would like to play Buddy Ball,” Shaun says. “I thought it would be cool, different. Then the director, Jamie Donahue, asked if I would be interested in volunteering.”

“It’s always been tough to do anything outside of real estate, but I said I would start saying ‘yes’ more, so I said ‘yes’, and coaching the league has been the best experience I’ve ever had. Being out on the baseball field for an hour has allowed me to be a big kid—not “Dad Shaun” or “Real Estate Shaun”. I dance around, joke with everyone, and do the wave with the crowd,” says Shaun. He coaches the league alongside Josh Scott and Peyton Hopson.

It is likely Shaun shared his personality with Cason because he has his own way of joking around, snickering when he wants you to know he’s cracking a joke. “Cason is also a flirt,” Shaun says of his son. “Everyone loves him.

At restaurants, Cason is known to smile or blow kisses at those seated nearby. He also loves to hang with me and watch sports on TV or play video games. I love to see how the bond he has with his twin brother and baby sister evolves as they grow together. It gives my wife and I peace to know that Cason, Carter and Chloe will always have each other.”

Shaun continues, “For me as a coach, it’s being able to see the whole picture, seeing the kids go from not even wanting to stand at the plate to not only hitting the ball, but hitting the ball without a tee; it’s amazing. That kid might have a special condition, and now he or she is swinging at the ball while standing alone at the plate.

That right there is what it’s all about. Having a space for the kids to share the experiences that sports have to offer.”

“This, by far, in my 35 years, has been the most fulfilling experience I’ve had. I am able to coach my son while also spending time

with other differently-abled children and witnessing them experience the same joys I was blessed to experience from sports my whole life,” shares Shaun.

CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF THE DIFFERENTLY-ABLED

“I think everything I’ve experienced since leaving home has helped me understand that the best things in life happen just outside of your comfort zone,” Shaun says. The other rewarding aspect of the Bambino Buddy Ball League, according to Shaun, is watching how engaging with differently-abled children affects those who volunteer, often baseball players from around the league who volunteer for community service hours. “The kids go out there for community service and leave with a new perspective of life. Sometimes the buddies become good friends with the players. They form bonds, which expands their worldviews,” he says.

Shaun explains, “My hope is that they can take what they learn back to their schools and parks and help others understand and accept those who are differently-abled. That they can show others that getting to know someone with differing abilities is okay.”

To learn more or get involved with the Jacksonville Beach Bambino Buddy Ball Division, a baseball league for players ages 5-20 with mental and/or physical disabilities that have the desire to play organized, non-competitive baseball, visit: jaxbeachbaseball.org/challenger-division/.