Fort Belvoir, Va. (Oct. 9, 2014) - Last week, I got a chance to cover something really cool -- the National Football League's Salute to Play 60 event.
Play 60 is a fitness initiative sponsored by the NFL that aims to introduce youth to the benefits of maintaining active lifestyles and healthy diets. Belvoir hosts a number of these gatherings each year and they're always extremely popular -- a great thing to see, actually, with childhood obesity becoming an increasingly pervasive issue around the world. I've found that the kids around here really do enjoy keeping active and healthy and they jump at any chance to get out there and play.
What made this particular event so special, though, was that 10 or so of the Washington Redskins came out to hang with the kids, doing meet-and-greets, teaching them a few tricks of their trade, leading workouts and playing some actual flag football. You can only imagine the level of excitement and glee that swept across Pullen Field when Robert Griffin III, Alfred Morris, Jason Hatcher, Ryan Grant, Trent Murphy, Shawn Lauvao, Darrel Young, Niles Paul and Akeem Davis emerged from their bus and walked out onto our very own field. What I couldn't have imagined was the joy that came over me when these pros took the time to speak with me about the Play 60 program and life in the NFL. I swear I regressed to about the age of 9, surprising in that I've never really been particularly "star struck;" I've met famous musicians before and didn't have trouble ordering my thoughts or untying my tongue.
But the big moment was when I got to meet a personal hero of mine -- the event's guest speaker, the legendary Doug Williams who took the Redskins to a historic 42-10 victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXII. I could still remember that game like it happened last week. To shake the hand of the man who threw all those record-setting TD passes that day was a moment among moments.
Speaking with Williams and being struck by his kindness and willingness to chat with somebody he'd never met about something that happened some 25 years ago, I realized that every Skins player out there had come with the same generous attitude. How they freely interacted with these kids and accommodated every request for an autograph or handshake completely transcended scores and playoff berths. They were truly just a bunch of genuine guys who really left a special impact on everyone they came in contact with -- myself included.
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