Students and staff at Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Boyle Heights are counting down the days until this Saturday 11 in February your school will host the Play Football Festival 2022, a community family event prior to Super Bowl LVI 2022.
Hundreds of people are expected to attend the event sponsored by the National Football League (NFL), including at least 500 student-athletes ready to showcase their football and personal skills through football clinics, a New Era Cap youth pro camp, a skills station, and NFL FLAG drills.
One of the eager students is Jeffrey Pérez, from 16 years old, who has been playing football for three years and plans to continue playing at the college level.
The student of the degree said he found a passion for football as a child and watched a Super Bowl final at home that caught his attention.
This was shocking to his parents who are from El Salvador and were not fans of America’s favorite sport.
When Pérez, a resident of the Westlake area, started attending high school, he decided to sign up for the football team. Although his parents were initially hesitant to allow him to play because it was considered a brutal sport, they eventually agreed.
“My mom told me that I had to take care of myself,” Pérez said.
Since he was very young, Pérez has been a student with good grades. Being part of his high school football team was not an obstacle in his school activities and he has maintained a general grade (GPA) of 4.2.
This put him on the radar of well-known schools. like Salesian High School. Pérez had applied for him to attend that high school, which is a private Catholic boys’ school in Boyle Heights. However, to attend, if accepted, you must have the budget to pay tuition or obtain a scholarship.
Adrián López, deputy principal of the school and administrator of students who arrive or leave transferred to the school, saw his application and decided to interview him and his parents. He was impressed with the teenager’s perseverance and last year offered him a scholarship to attend school starting in the 11th grade.
Pérez said he is very motivated to show his potential as a player just like as a student. His dream is to go to UC Berkeley to study computer science and become a role model for his two younger brothers.
NFL Choice School
The Mustangs, as the Salesian High School football team is known, has 80 players, all willing to give their best in each game. They are proud that the NFL in its search for local schools to hold a family festival prior to the Super Bowl has chosen their school.
“I am very excited to know that Los Angeles is the host of the Super Bowl and our school of the event ”, said Pérez.
Anthony Atkins, coach of the team, said that the students feel honored and added that the NFL is made up of approximately 98% of players of color and this gives students motivation that they could be the next star player.
Atkins is proud to say that in the past he coached players who eventually became part of the 49San Francisco Raiders and San Francisco Raiders Las Vegas.
“Here we teach them to play as a team, they must play for the person next to them and they must know that their rock is their team”, said Atkins.
Roman Oben, vice president of football development for the NFL, said in a statement that they are excited to host the Play Football Festival 1600 in East Los Angeles.
He added that the activities for the weekend hope to offer valuable life lessons for young people to learn the fundamentals of soccer current and former NFL players, coaches.
“We are dedicated to our high school and youth football communities, fans and coaches. We are excited to provide memorable experiences that they will remember forever,” said Oben.
Along with fun soccer-related activities, the Play Football Family Festival 1600 aims to unite the high school and youth soccer communities, drive positive conversations centered around the values of the game, and highlight women’s soccer.
In addition there will be a parent forum, breakout sessions and activations of both the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
There will also be an autograph session with NFL legends and team props. The festival is open to football fans of all ages and is free.
The school is located at 900 S Soto Street de las from morning to 1 pm.