Opinion
Pennsylvania football coach sends athletes to shovel driveways for elderly neighbors
When extreme winter storms began heading towards Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, earlier this week, this highschool soccer coach didn’t simply cancel the staff’s scheduled weight lifting follow.
He additionally despatched the athletes to shovel the driveways of their neighbors in want – free of charge.
In a tweet posted on Jan. 16, Bethel Park Excessive College head soccer coach Brian DeLallo wrote: “As a consequence of anticipated extreme climate, Monday’s weightlifting exercise has been cancelled. Discover an aged or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t settle for any cash – that’s our Monday exercise.”
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DeLallo informed Fox Information Digital that having the soccer staff shovel folks’s driveways is one thing that his predecessor, former head coach Jeff Metheny, began the custom extra 20 years in the past.
“Jeff had at all times had our children do that,” DeLallo informed Fox Information Digital. “Any time we had a snow day and college was canceled, he had the children exit and shovel driveways for folks locally who have been aged or who have been disabled or in any other case couldn’t shovel their very own driveways. So that is one thing we’ve been doing for a very long time. Undoubtedly not my thought. I discovered it from Jeff and we’ve simply carried on this custom.”
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Bethel Park Excessive College soccer gamers David Shelpman, 16, and Aidan Campbell, 17, have been amongst about 40 athletes who shoveled snow on Monday, in accordance with DeLallo.
Campbell informed Fox Information Digital that he shoveled 4 driveways with Shelpman, who did one other two driveways on his personal. Shelpman informed Fox he shoveled for about seven hours, whereas Campbell shoveled for about 5.
As soon as he was finished shoveling driveways, Shelpman stated he and his mother volunteered at a spaghetti dinner for homeless veterans.
Shelpman informed Fox that serving to his neighbors “makes me really feel like part of one thing greater than myself.”
“I undoubtedly at all times do be ok with with the ability to assist others out,” Shelpman added.
DeLallo informed Fox {that a} large a part of having the athletes shovel driveways is to provide them an opportunity to work together with the group.
“We’ve got actually good group assist right here,” DeLallo stated. “We even have an awesome athletic division. Sports activities are essential in our group, highschool sports activities are essential. We get nice crowds and assist. So this can be a approach to exit and join with them.”
“This was a great way to type of get them nose to nose with their neighbors, doing one thing that offers again to a group that’s so supportive of our program,” DeLallo added. “It’s very nice to have the ability to try this.”