Danny Amendola, Matt Light give high school players a workout in Bedford (copy)
- Story byNew Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
- Danny Amendola, Matt Light give high school players a workout in Bedford (copy)
Danny Amendola and Matt Light of New England Patriots fame illuminated the faces of about 30 youngsters on the football field at Bedford High School on Wednesday afternoon.
Just after 4 p.m., Light and Amendola strode onto the field.
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"You're talking to the D1 state champions right here," Amendola quipped to Light, a reference to the Bedford Bulldogs recent success on the gridiron.
Soon, the talking ended and drilling began.
"I'm sweating bullets out here," Amendola said quietly between shouted instructions and advice to high school wide receivers from across the state as they ran routes and caught passes in the heat and humidity.
Amendola won two Super Bowls with the Patriots and appeared in three. He played wide receiver in the big leagues, running routes and catching bullets from Tom Brady , and on Wednesday he took the young wideouts and quarterbacks under his wing.
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On the other side of the field, former offensive tackle Matt Light towered over the other half of the high school players, hand-picked by their coaches to attend the clinic at Bedford High School.
"If you're willing to pay the price, you will get a lot out of this game," Light told players crouched in a huddle near the 50-yard line.
Light played 11 seasons in the National Football League, all of them with New England and won three Super Bowls.
"It comes down to humility, right? In the absence of looking up to somebody or asking somebody for advice or trying to get coached up by somebody who you think you can learn from, you have somebody who's a little bit arrogant," Light said. "Being humble and hungry is as important as many of the other things that can make you a great football player."
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Light said some of the best players he played with in his career — and that's a long list — were humble and confident.
"Being willing to learn, being willing to adapt, being willing to look at it from a different point of view," Light said.
The miniature football clinic was co-hosted by the New Hampshire Lottery in support of the upcoming New England Patriots scratch ticket.
Drake Jaimes and Romello Diaz are rising juniors at Manchester Central High School and were two of the players that school sent to the clinic on Wednesday. Jaimes was throwing passes and Diaz was running routes.
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They're both Patriots fans.
"Our coach called us and asked us if we wanted to come down here. He chose four of the hardest working people that have been in the weight room the whole offseason," Jaimes said.
"We didn't know what we were expecting," Diaz said.
Jaimes and Diaz agreed: Amendola gave them a good workout on Wednesday, and they learned a couple of new routes.
"We were getting better with our route-running, with our chemistry," Diaz said. "Just putting it all together."
"Just getting ready for the season and building on what we've been building through the whole summer," Jaimes said.
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Next, it's time for Jaimes and Diaz to get back to work ahead of the fall. But not before spreading the word around the locker room.
"Tell them that we met a Super Bowl champion and how fun it was, stuff like that," Jaimes said.
