In this week’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells thee story of the Bethel Park football team, which picked up shovels to help out their neighborhoods after a snow storm.
Bethel Park football picks up the shovels
The Bethel Park football team didn’t have school Monday, but sitting at home wasn’t an option.
Head coach Brian Dellalo canceled an offseason workout and challenged his players to do some heavy lifting in the community, instead of the weight room – all while carrying on a tradition started by previous head coach Jeff Matheny almost 20 years ago.
“He would say ‘hey, make sure you get out and shovel somebody’s driveway. Go find a neighbor who is disabled or elderly or otherwise can’t do it. Do it for them and don’t you dare take any money. This is something we’re going to do for the community.”
So, the Black Hawks — DeLallo included — grabbed their shovels Monday and hit their neighborhoods. It wasn’t until DeLallo tweeted about it though that things sort of, well… snowballed.
“There are tons of coaches in western Pennsylvania who have their kids out doing the same thing,” he said. “I must have just been the first guy to put it on Twitter. It kind of caught a lot of attention.”
A few hundred retweets and shares by local and national media put the program in the spotlight. DeLallo’s players answered the call, maybe even more enthusiastically than he expected.
“I actually started getting photos before I got out of bed from the kids,” he said. “A couple of them were ‘hey, we’re on driveway number two. We’re on our way to driveway number three. Some of them were kids with their families. We had dads and little brothers involved.”
By the time the team put the shovels away, DeLallo estimates they cleared over 100 driveways. A day well spent, according to junior Jack Reilly.
“They come out and support us every Friday night, so we figured why not support them,” he said.
And mission accomplished for DeLallo and his staff.
“When you have a chance to foster that kind of positive interaction between your program and the community, take advantage of it,” DeLallo said. “It’s great in terms of fostering that kind of family-community relationship, and your players I think really do get something out of it, of course much more than they would get from some weight room session.”
So, on a day that made many want to retreat inside for the foreseeable future, the Black Hawks tackled the snow head-on, all just to make life a little easier on their neighbors.
And though DeLlalo and his players never anticipated multiple media interviews in between driveways, he hopes it only shines a light on the hearts of local athletes.
“We have a lot of great people in our game and high school football in western PA,” he said. “Great coaches, great kids, and it’s part of the fabric of the community. That’s part of what makes, if you’re a high school football coach, part of what makes doing it in this part of the world really special.”