Dragons Visit Long Island Schools
March 26, 2007 - Arena Football League (1987-2008) (AFL I)
New York Dragons News Release
The New York Dragons visited schools all across Long Island to share their experiences and spread some cheers Monday afternoon. Players and coaches alike traveled to eight different schools as far west as Queens and all the way out to Lake Ronkonkoma in Suffolk County.
Traveling to each school in groups of at least two, the players and coaches used their unique knowledge of the game to prepare drills, talk to the kids and sign autographs.
While each group of Dragons organized different activities, the one common theme at each school was that not only the kids, but the players and coaches involved, enjoyed themselves.
At the Captree Elementary School in West Islip, WR Chris Anthony, DB Rufus Brown and QB Blayne Baggett broke the kids up into three groups and performed a number of drills, geared to their specialties.
Anthony worked with the kids on proper pass receiving for his first drill before lining them up for one of the more exciting drills of the day. With kids in two lines facing one another, Anthony threw a small, plastic football to a fifth grader standing at the other side of the lines. The catch was that all the kids in the lines waved their hands as the ball flew overhead towards the lone kid waiting to receive the ball.
"The points of this drill is to learn to catch the ball while being distracted," Anthony told the kids, who listened attentively.
Meanwhile, in another part of the Captree gym, Brown was teaching the kids proper footwork by having them back-peddle before attempting to intercept a pass.
From there, kids moved onto the quarterback station with Baggett. Although it seemed like pandemonium at this drill, Baggett was also working on footwork. Kids would take the ball, drop back, and then pass to the next person in line. After each turn, the kids would move back farther for the following throw.
"It was really fun having the Dragons here," said Danielle from West Islip. "I really like the throwing drill."
To create a sense of unity, Anthony had the kids huddle at the end of the drill and come up with a name for their group. The most interesting of the three names agreed upon was The Psycho Lions.
"The coolest drill was the one where we had to work on our footwork and back-peddled with Rufus," said Chris, a fifth grader from West Islip. "We also learned about another footwork move called karaoke from Blayne."
Following the drills, there was a question and answer session with the kids asking everything from the players' birthdays to their favorite NFL player.
One child asked, "What's the toughest thing about playing football." Baggett proceeded to stand up on the stage holding his hand high and respond: "Going up against guys this big." The entire room roared with laughter.
After the Q & A, the players signed autographs for the 50 kids in attendance. While standing in line to get an autograph, Sal, blurted out "This is the best day of my life."
Elsewhere, similar responses could be heard and smiling faces seen.
At the Powells Lane Elementary School, DB Billy Parker and Coach Jerome Brown along with Dragons administrator Gavin Stackhouse began with some fundamental drills before getting into more advanced activities, including offensive patterns. At the end, the third and fourth graders were split up into two teams for a relay race.
"It's always great working with kids," said Stackhouse. "They're the future. It was a great day. Unfortunately, Billy's team won the relay race. We'll get them next year."
Outside of Stratford Elementary School in Garden City, FB Ja'Mar Toombs as well as strength and conditioning coach Jeremy Holsopple discussed the importance of warming up before you play with the fourth grade class. Following the thorough warm-up, Toombs (who leads the Dragons in rushing yards and touchdowns), ran numerous cone drills working on footwork and sprints. They concluded their training with a scrimmage.
After finishing with the football drills, Toombs and Holsopple headed inside to the gymnasium where another class was playing dodgeball. After signing over 60 autographs, Toombs joined the Stratford fifth graders for a quick dodgeball game.
While the kids couldn't get enough of their once-in-a-lifetime experiences, even leaning out their classroom windows to say their last goodbyes, it was the Dragons players who had a chance to reflect on what it meant to visit the local schools.
"It was a good time for everyone," said Anthony. "It's always nice to get out in the community and work with kids. They responded well and we hope we made a difference today."
Arena Football League (1987-2008) Stories from March 26, 2007
- Desperados Avenge '06 Playoff Loss, 70-49 - Dallas Desperados
- Preds drop 70-49 decision to Dallas - Orlando Predators
- Dragons Visit Long Island Schools - New York Dragons
- Brigade tweaks roster four weeks into season - Kansas City Brigade
- Undefeated Force come to town as Destroyers QB Matt Nagy faces his former team - Columbus Destroyers
- Destroyers to host Motorsports Night - Columbus Destroyers
- Blaze prepare to take on division rival Las Vegas - Utah Blaze
- Stoney Case named starting QB - Tampa Bay Storm
- The OSC Interview: AFL Commissioner David Baker - OSC Original by Fran Stuchbury
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