The Jacksonville Jaguars got together as a team on Thursday, but it wasn’t to practice playing football. Instead, the team hopped aboard buses and made visits to patients at some local hospitals.
“We talked about in a team meeting if you have a chance to do good, you do good, and today’s a chance to make a difference in people’s lives,” head coach Gus Bradley said, via Mike DiRocco of ESPN. “So many times we ask, ‘What are we getting? What are we getting?’ Today we decided to give back.”
Per the report, the Jaguars broke into groups to make their visits. One group consisted of the Jaguars’ defense, tight ends and wide receivers who spent time at Wolfman Children’s Hospital in the pediatric oncology unit.
Defensive Tackle Sen’Derrick Marks shared this about his experience.
“After a while it becomes emotional. Some kids you can’t even go in the room. It’s hard for us to imagine, especially when we wake up where we wake up and feel the way we feel, go into the building and do the things we do,” Marks said. “Sometimes you don’t even realize what other people are going through, so when you actually come out and see it, it actually really does humble you.”
In an ongoing tradition for the Jaguars, the team typically takes one day out of their practice activities to plan a social group event. Instead of bowling or a movie, it appears the Jaguars time was well spent visiting folks who would give anything to be in a different situation health-wise.
It is always a pleasure to report on a positive story versus the negative headlines that often command far too much attention around the football world.
This is one of those stories.