In the South Annex of the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday, two kids had a toy sword fight and water gun showdown with Nittany Lion football player Mike Wallace.
Eventually dropping to the floor and playing dead as the victors jumped on him, Wallace (freshman-marketing) joked that he started the sword fight out of self-defense.
"The kids were coming at me from every direction with water guns," Wallace said. "I had to defend myself."
Wallace was one of the many Penn State athletes featured in THON's Athlete Hour, which saw the South Annex transform into a playground complete with soccer nets, Styrofoam swords and water gun warfare.
Designed to give Four Diamonds children a chance to interact with their favorite athletes, the event proved rewarding to the students, too.
"The kids are great," Wallace said. "They're full of energy and loving life right now. I'm just glad to be a part of it."
To the left, feathers and stickers lay strewn across a table as kids decorated masks with members of the Penn State women's swimming and diving team. The baseball team engaged in a game of four square, and the Lady Lions track and field team coached the kids with their long jumping skills.
Laura Sweger, 11, of Elizabethville, Pa., gave the long jump a few tries. After jumping 4 feet and 10 inches, Sweger marked her jump on the tape measure lying beside the mat. She said the track and field members really encouraged her.
"They cheer you on and make sure you don't give up," Sweger said.
Track and field athlete Leah Rosenfeld (senior-media studies) said she was impressed by the strong showing of athletes at the event.
"It feels good to see the athletes making an effort to support THON and support the kids," she said. "It's great to see that we got such a great turnout."
On the right side of the annex, the soccer team defended small goals from legions of Four Diamonds children. Nearby, cheerleaders taught cheers to little girls outfitted with cheerleader uniforms, and the football team posed for photos and signed countless autographs.
Alec Kulina, 8, of Harrisburg, wore a white Penn State football jersey with his name written across the back. Clutching a blue piece of construction paper completely filled with autographs from the football team and Lady Lions basketball team, Kulina said he planned to laminate and hang his prize when he got home.
But for Maria Bellido, 10, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., Athlete Hour was about more than just autographs. Practicing her volleyball technique with women's volleyball player Darcy Dorton (freshman-psychology), she said she hoped to get to know the players.
Though both Bellido and Dorton hit the ball consistently, Dorton would sometimes have to run to the far end of the gym to retrieve a runaway volley.
"It's nice to be with people," Bellido said. "I want to have fun. Some people want to get autographs, but I just want to have fun with them and see the person that's inside."
As athletes and kids chased each other and clashed swords nearby, Dorton said she liked that the event made the athletes act like kids again.
"I really enjoy being here and seeing the athletes have fun," she said. "We act like kids. It's for a good cause. That makes everything so much better."
