New York Jets star wide receiver Garrett Wilson ran drills with kids at La Central YMCA in Melrose on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023. Wilson was on hand as part of Wilson Sporting Goods’ “Gift of Game” program.
Photo ET Rodriguez
The smell of sweaty bodies, the sound of bouncing basketballs, the blur of fastballs whipping across the gymnasium floor – it was a busy Saturday at La Central YMCA on Westchester Avenue in Melrose as hundreds of parents and children filled the space.
Wilson’s Sporting Goods’ “Gift of Game” – which launched in 2022 – gave 200 families a free one-year membership to the South Bronx-located Y while the kids on hand, aged 5-18 years old, received free basketballs, baseball gloves and practiced with New York Jets star wide receiver Garrett Wilson and two members of the exhibition baseball team Savannah Bananas.
“Garrett! Garrett! Garrett!” chanted the children who welcomed Wilson with roaring applause as he entered the gym. The kids were eager to impress as they ran their hearts out around traffic cones with footballs tucked firmly against their chests.
Wilson, the highly touted skill position player out of Ohio State, is in his second year with the Jets and considered one of the league’s rising stars. During his visit, he provided the starry-eyed youngsters with words of wisdom. “Listen to your elders and put in the work,” he told the eager onlookers.
Also in attendance were Bill Leroy and Christian Dearman of the Savannah Bananas, a Georgia-based team formed in 2016 by Fans First Entertainment which brands itself as a “world famous baseball circus.”
“We want to be able to provide such a great mentorship to these kids with the time that we have on this earth,” said Dearman, who has been playing and performing with the Bananas for six years.
Dearman has also worked as a counselor at several baseball camps and received his master’s in sports administration and business from St. Thomas…
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