The Miami Dolphins and the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE) recognize the week eight youth football players, coach and parent who have demonstrated their commitment to being leaders on and off the field:
• High School Player of the Week: Anthony Wynds Jr. from Palm Beach Central High School. Wynds Jr. is a senior running back, rushing for 260 yards and two touchdowns in a win over Jupiter High School. Last week’s victory marked the Broncos’ third-straight win and kept the team in contention for the playoffs.
• High School Coach of the Week: Brendan Kent from Oxbridge Academy. Kent and his team are having a great season and have defeated some of the toughest teams in the state. He has lead Oxbridge Academy to victories over two 2015 State Champions – Charles W. Flanagan High School and Miami Carol City Senior High School.
Kent is a native Floridian and a graduate of Florida Atlantic University with a BA in Social Science. He has taught in both public and private school settings and is currently working on a Master’s in Educational Leadership. Kent has coached football in the state of Florida for nine years and has experience at both the college and high school levels. He loves to travel with his wife, Keisha, and lives an active lifestyle outside of coaching by golfing and fishing.
• Youth Player of the Week: Ryan Mack from the Miami Gardens Ravens 10U of the Florida Youth Football League. Mack rushed for 50 yards and one touchdown on offense and also contributed five solo tackles as a safety. The Miami Gardens Ravens defeated the Fort Lauderdale Hurricanes 36-0.
• Team Mom of the Week: Tererika Green from the Miami Junior Rockets 7U of the National Youth Football League. Green goes above and beyond for the 29 kids on her team. She volunteers well over 30 hours, six days a week to make sure that her team’s needs are met. Green helps with all of the park’s fundraisers, prepares pregame and post-game meals for home and away games and provides rides to and from practices and games to players who need transportation. She also remains the team mom for the Super Pee Wee team (5-6 year olds) at the park without missing a beat.
Each award recipient will be presented with a plaque on the field during the Nov. 6 Dolphins home game at Hard Rock Stadium against the New York Jets, and receive acknowledgement of their accomplishment in the game program and through the Dolphins’ and RISE’s social media platforms. They also will receive a pair of tickets to a Miami Dolphins home game and a Dolphins/RISE T-shirt.
As a newly added component of the program and part of the Dolphins/RISE partnership, winners will be empowered to make a difference by participating in a RISE training program where they will learn how to use the unifying power of sport to promote the importance and benefits of unity, equality and inclusiveness as well as address racial tensions their teams, schools and communities might experience.
Awardees also will be encouraged to take a pledge, committing to stand up to racial inequality and share how they plan to affect change by creating a “How I RISE” video message, which will be posted on RISEtoWIN.org.
***Photo Credit: Miami Dolphins***