ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The school day at Hunter's Creek Middle School Thursday kicked off with a pep rally in the school gym. At this pep rally though, students were in for a big surprise as two NFL players from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers showed up thank to one of their classmates.
Bobby Sena, a 7th grade student at Hunter's Creek, won the NFL's contest as the Play 60 Super Kid with the help of votes from these classmates and the community.
"To hear all the kids just cheer when we said the clinic, when they brought out the football players, it's just an amazing feeling," said Sena. He went on to say, "It's been a lifelong dream. I feel better then I did at the Super Bowl," said Sena. As another perk, Sena carried the game ball onto the field for last month's Super Bowl.
As part of Sena's winnings, the Bucs players a signed a $10,000 check donated to Hunter's Creek. The school will also receive a $5,000 grant to be used to purchase physical education equipment.
Play 60 is the NFL's campaign encouraging youth to be active for at least 60 minutes a day. Following the pep rally, Sena's 7th grade classmates got their hour of active play in at a Play 60 clinic with the Tampa Bay Bucs players.
"At this age, I was always outside playing. And I think with today's society, with more technology and stuff like that, people kind of lose focus on being outside and playing," said Brandon Myers, a tight end for the Bucs.
"Don't take it upon anybody else to make you go outside and play. Us NFL players, we took the initiative a long time ago to say you know what, I want to play and I want to be active and that's how we got this far," said Clint Mcdonald, a Tampa Bay Bucs Defensive Tackle.
However you choose to do it, Sena is asking everyone to jump on board.
"Whether that be walking to school, riding a bike to school, playing football, all of that is playing for 60 minutes and that's the main message. Have fun and just play 60!," said Sena.