A football coach’s role is to hone the latent of his/her players so they could perform well once they decide to enter the pro league. On the other hand, athletes should pay close attention to what their coach is teaching them and obey whatever he/she tells them to do.
That’s how simple a coach-players relationship works, however, this one is a little different.
Doing the right thing.
On January 16 of last year, Bethel High School’s football team was supposed to have a weightlifting practice. However, the school’s head football coach, Brian DeLallo, decided to cancel it due to inclement weather.
But instead of just having an unproductive day, coach DeLallo gave his players a very important task. He asked his boys to do something that would keep them busy for the day – clean off the thick snow seated on their neighbors’ driveways.
And the high school boys chose the right people to help – the elderly and disabled.
In a tweet, coach DeLallo wrote: “Due to expected severe weather, Monday’s weightlifting workout has been canceled. Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money – that’s our Monday workout.”
Credits to the mastermind of this act of kindness.
During an interview with Fox News, Bethel High School’s football coach pointed out that such extracurricular activity was former head coach Jeff Metheny’s idea. The kind act started as a tradition dating 20 years back and they have no plans of stopping it.
“Jeff had always had our kids do this. Any time we had a snow day and school was canceled, he had the kids go out and shovel driveways for people in the community who were elderly or who were disabled or otherwise could not shovel their own driveways,” explained DeLallo.
“So this is something we’ve been doing for a long time. Definitely not my idea. I learned it from Jeff and we’ve just carried on this tradition,” the coach wrote in a tweet, crediting former head coach Jeff Methen for the amazing idea.
A total of 40 players, including some eighth-graders, participated in the extracurricular activity. They managed to clean more than 100 homes and even continued working on some more sidewalks on Tuesday afternoon.
A different kind of workout.
Coach DeLallo said that making the students shovel off the snow wouldn’t just serve as a good workout but more importantly, a good way to be involved in the community.
Robert Klein, one of the residents who benefited from the students’ extracurricular activity had nothing but good words for what they did.
“I have lived in Bethel Park for more than 40 years now. And acts of kindness like this are exactly why I have stayed for as long as I have, and why I will never leave,” he said. “These young men have no idea how much something like this means to me and it makes me so proud to live here.”
Helping the neighborhood with their driveways doesn’t just revolve around helping alone, it also makes them become better members of society and develop their totality as human beings.
Watch the report below to know more about this beautiful story.
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