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November 8, 2013

The Keith Special: A Football Play that Could Rescue the NFL. ~ Sanja Cloete-Jones

The Miami Dolphins recently released a PSA asking fans to be civilized.

Fair enough.

Only slightly unfortunate considering the man in this video has just been suspended for bullying.

Miami Dolphin starting left tackle Jonathan Martin had finally had enough of abuse by his team members and deserted the team before their Thursday night game. This resulted in the Dolphins suspending Pro Bowl lineman Richie Incognito for the role he played in a campaign that included nicknames, bullying and reportedly treating the rookie like an ATM and making him pick up a $15,000 bill for a recent Las Vegas jaunt.

It seems like these chaps have forgotten that football, like life, is a team sport.

And sometimes when the grown ups get it wrong it takes boys to teach the men how it should be done.

Which brings me to the Keith Special. A move developed by the Olivet Eagles from the Olivet Middle School in Michigan…without their coaches’ knowledge.

The team perfected the double tap play over a number of weeks.

During the first part of the play, Sheridan Hedrick takes a knee on the one yard line. So far, so not crowd pleasing.

Then the ball is handed to Keith Orr. A team member who happens to have special needs. Who carries the ball over the line, completely surrounded and protected by his teammates. As his mom Carrie Orr said afterwards:

“Yes I’m excited and happy that he made a touchdown, but what have these boys showed this community? That’s what gets to me. They’ve got his back. And he knows it.”

This is how you build an individual, this is how you build a team and this is how you build a community.

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Editor: Bryonie

{Photo: Flickr.}

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