BETHEL PARK, Pa. — A football coach in Pennsylvania canceled his team’s scheduled weightlifting session on Monday after a snowstorm blanketed the eastern part of the country.
Instead, he gave them a new workout that also helped out their community: shoveling snow.
Brian DeLallo, a teacher and football coach at Bethel Park High School, tweeted out that weightlifting was called off but called his on players to find a driveway to shovel.
“Due to expected severe weather, Monday’s weightlifting workout has been canceled,” he wrote. “Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money - that’s our Monday workout.”
DeLallo said his players were texting photos of each other clearing driveways, one after another, first thing in the morning.
"It's about community,” he said. “We talk about in our program all the time, so this is another chance we have to go out and interact with our community in a positive way and show them that they're important to us.”
Braedon Del Duca, a lineman on the team, said this is a chance to thank the community for their support.
“We love to do it for everybody that we can,” he said.
DeLallo added it was great to see the buy-in and get out there.
“They'll shovel all morning and then, hopefully, they'll go sled riding in the afternoon and get to be kids,” he said.
In a follow-up tweet, DeLallo said the idea originally came from Jeff Metheny who was head coach at Bethel Park for 25 years.
"We are simply carrying on one of the many great traditions he established," he wrote.