Christmas Charity Event Provides Players Break From Football, Academics
Yesterday afternoon, members of the Notre Dame Football Team went up and down the "Toy" and "Sporting Good" aisles at a local Meijer Supermarket. They pushed carts full of Christmas gifts, such as a bicycle, a pillow designed to look like a giant slice of pizza, pickles, string cheese, dolls and action figures.
These eclectic presents were not for the players themselves. They belonged to the 97 elementary and middle-school-aged children from the greater South Bend area that participated in the eighth annual Shop With a Notre Dame Football Player event.
Each child was paired with a Notre Dame Football player and given a $100 Meijer gift card to purchase presents for themselves and their loved ones. The players assisted them by pushing carts, coming up with gift ideas and brightening the day of young Fighting Irish fans.
A player's main responsibility to help a child maximize their $100 budget, and several players spent time waiting in line in order to scan barcodes at "Price Checking" machines.
"There are some guys in here that have accounting degrees that can't even come close to getting to $100," said Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly. "And then you've got some guys that are just free wheelers that just have a sense. A great guy that every year hits the number is Logan Plantz. Logan, as you know, is an outdoorsman. He'd rather be right now bow hunting, but he hits it within pennies every year."
For as much effort as the players put into the event, they also got a lot out of it.
"You'll get a young girl, eight, nine years old, shopping for her mom or dad, and I just think that other-centeredness affects our players," Kelly said. "They see how fortunate they are for what they have. I think when they leave here, they feel better about themselves because they get a chance to spend time with these kids."
The event is put on every year by the Kelly Cares Foundation, the charity organization of Brian Kelly and his wife, Paqui.
In addition to helping children shop, starting graduate senior right guard Trevor Ruhland came dressed as Santa Claus, while junior tight end Cole Kmet and junior backup center Colin Grunhard made an appearance as elves.
"These guys came to us from the North Pole today," Brian Kelly said jokingly. "As I said, this [event] has been growing and growing. The word got to the North Pole."
Ruhland thought about dying his naturally grown beard, but he instead chose to wear a curly white wig and fake beard. He went through the aisles waving to the children and commenting on gifts in their cart.
"Do you have a dog?" Ruhland asked a little boy purchasing a pack of rawhide bones. The boy shyly nodded yes.
Meanwhile, Kmet and Grunhard ran around posing for pictures and, at one point, were spotted eating some of Santa's Christmas cookies.
While the event is fun and a way for the team to give back, Brian Kelly said the event also gives his players a break from the monotony and grind of being a scholarship athlete at the University of Notre Dame.
"They've got exams coming up, and it gives them a respite from being on the treadmill — the treadmill of academics and football," Brian Kelly said. "This is kind of like, 'Hey, this is real life and this is a great opportunity for me to take a step back and enjoy yourself.' It's a great way to wrap up the year."
To make Shop With a Notre Dame Football Player happen, the Kelly Cares Foundation partnered with the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, who matched the $10,000 donated by foundation supporters during the social media campaign #GivingTuesday on Dec. 3. Funds will also directly assist breast cancer patients.
Preparing For Camping World Bowl
Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly also took some time at the event to talk about preparing for the Camping World Bowl, which will include giving his more experienced players a break from practice.
"What I've generally done is in the first couple of practices, I try to keep the veterans out of any heavy lifting, which we'll continue to do that," he said. "They've played enough football. The guys that have 700 to 900 plays, they don't need two and a half weeks of preparation. With that said, we'll practice on Saturday.
"It'll be our first practice, and it'll be young guys that get the bulk of the work."
Once Kelly and his coaching staff begin to install the game plan for Iowa State, they'll start to get the veteran players more involved.
But until then, its an excellent opportunity for young players to improve.
"There are so many really good young players that you can go out there with the opportunity to let them go practice and not have to worry about [getting] ready for a game in these first two or three practices," Kelly said. "So just let them go out and compete, base offense, base defense and let him go fly without the worry of, 'if I make a mistake I won't get any more reps.'"
One young player who will be unable to participate in full-contact drills is freshman corner Cam Hart, who is in the process of recovering from labrum surgery. He will be allowed to participate in agility workouts and some other non-contact drills.
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