The New Orleans Saints hosted a Moms Football Safety Clinic on Monday, Sept. 15 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the team's training facility on Airline Drive in Metairie.
The event helped provide more than 150 mothers, with the latest information about football safety through USA Football's "Heads Up Football" program.
Participants first heard from Saints executive vice president/general manager Mickey Loomis and Coach Sean Payton on the importance of safety and how vital a mother's role is in football.
Scott Hallenbeck, executive director of USA Football, explained what his organization represents and what its goals are.
"When we launched Heads Up Football, it was about making the game better and safer,"Hallenbeck said. "One of the critical elements of Heads Up Football is actually teaching these parents about these steps so the parent, in particular the mom, is actually the one that is on site. Whether it's at home or picking the child up. The more educated they are, the better off we all are."
Saints head athletic trainer Scottie Patton then took the floor to educate the women on heat, hydration and concussion awareness.
Patton was then joined by Hallenbeck, Inez Walker, mother of Tulane/Saints safety Devon Walker, USA Football manager Mike Haynes and Saints ambassador Michael Lewis in panel discussion and question and answer session with the mothers.
The group went to the indoor practice field and learned the proper techniques of Heads-Up tackling as part of USA Football's "Heads Up Football" program.
"To have an organization like the Saints organization, to have them extend beyond this facility, then reach that arm into our homes, and reach out to the families of young kids who are aspiring to be exactly what they are on the television," participant Shantell Payton said. "It's credibility, so if I go back and tell my son, 'I learned this at the Saints camp, at the Saints facility' it's not some 'Mom, you don't know anything' it's big credibility. It strengthens that bond and strengthens our love and passion for the game."
