WAILUKU, Hawaii – The Rams' community engagement efforts on the island of Maui continued Wednesday with local kids for a PLAY 60 Field Day at War Memorial Stadium after practice.
Approximately 1,200 local youth ages 5-12 who participate in the County of Maui’s Play and Learn Sessions (PALS) summer program took the field for the session, with Rams legend and Super Bowl LVI Champion Andrew Whitworth on hand alongside the Rams' cheerleaders and mascot, Rampage.
"For them, they'll never forget this," Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen told KITV Island News. "This is as close as they may ever get to a professional football player."
According to its website, PALS' mission is "to provide a safe, nurturing, and quality recreation program for the children of Maui County that addresses their physical, social, cultural, and educational needs during summer and intersession breaks." This year's summer program began June 9 and runs through July 25.
That mission aligns with the NFL's PLAY 60 campaign to encourage kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to help reverse the trend of childhood obesity, with each team using various after-school, in-school and team-based programming to create a healthier generation.
It was the latest effort for the Rams to give back to Maui while on the island for minicamp. This followed the hosting of a girls flag football clinic and boys tackle football clinic led by the Rams football development team, players and coaches for nearly 250 athletes from high schools on the island Tuesday afternoon at War Memorial Stadium.
"This is a blessing to be in these positions, and you want to be able to find authentic opportunities to be able to partner up with people or situations where our players can really make a cool impact," Rams head coach Sean McVay said Tuesday. "And so this represented that. Sometimes they end up presenting themselves, and I thought this was a really cool thing, and it's also a great chance for us to be in a beautiful setting. A lot of smiles and a lot of good laughs that have gone on in the last day since we've been here, and so hopefully that'll continue all the way through Thursday."
