Four New Orleans Saints players participated in the NFL Play 60 Super School visit at Green Park Elementary on Tuesday morning.
An assembly was held in the school cafeteria where Saints defensive end Cameron Jordan, long snapper Justin Drescher, wide receiver Robert Meachem, tackle Terron Armstead and Saints mascot Sir Saint promoted the importance of a healthy lifestyle.
"It's about enjoying the kids and teaching them about Play 60, teaching them about health and eating right," Meachem said. "Most importantly, teaching them about education which is something that we received when we were kids."
When the players arrived, they were led down the hallway to the cafeteria by the Gator cheer squad. Students lined both sides of the hallway, chanting "Who Dat" as they sported their handmade Saints hats.
Along with Cox, Saints players presented a $10,000 NFL Play 60 grant for health and wellness programming and equipment to Green Park Elementary on behalf of the NFL and Saints. In addition to the grant, the NFL donated all of the fitness equipment used during the class to the school for future use.
During the NFL's Back to Football campaign, schools had the opportunity to enter the NFL Play 60 Super School contest by submitting three essays describing how they were going to support their local team, incorporate football into their lesson plans and teach the importance of physical education and nutrition. One super school was selected in each NFL market and two non-NFL markets.
Green Park Elementary explained how the school incorporates the Saints into the students' daily learning activities from using players' numbers to teach division to using footballs and fleur-di-lis to learn patterns.
After the assembly the players went outside and participated with students during the NFL Play 60 Ultimate Physical Education Class. The class had five stations where players demonstrated jump rope, weight lifting and various football drills.
"We came in here partnered with NFL Play 60 and Cox just to focus in on playing outside and really staying active for at least 60 minutes," Jordan said. "Honestly, it's just great to be part of an activity like this because you get to see the kids and interact with kids and see how they look up to you."
