In partnership with Baptist Health, the Miami Dolphins community outreach program, Junior Dolphins, came out to show their support to the South Dade football team by donating all new equipment, training gear, and shoes to members of the team. The Junior Dolphins is a program that offers support to schools in the Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties, by putting safety as the first priority.

“Our goal is to make sure the local schools have the resources to be able to practice at a higher level and to be safe while doing it,” Aaron Harris, Manager of Youth Programs said.

As Baptist Health partners, Junior Dolphins puts an emphasis on injury prevention. Safety is key in a contact sport like football, so the donation of equipment not only helps train the players but allows them the opportunity to prevent an injury before a play is even made.

“People talk about concussions and ACL injuries, and sometimes it comes down to just having the proper equipment. We want to make sure that we can take that barrier away because not everyone can afford it,” Harris said.

Included in the donation was a new pair of Nike shoes for every player, Dolphins merchandise, cleats, shoulder pads, gloves, tackling dummies, a one-man push sled, and more. Head coach Chris Reid was also gifted a windbreaker and was left speechless by the generosity of the Dolphins.

“I’m still trying to process all of this. I knew we were approved for the donation, but I didn’t know what to expect. There is no way we would be able to afford all of the stuff they gave us, and now we can use the money we raised fundraising towards other things for the players,” Reid said.

Members of the team were grateful for everything they got from the Dolphins, and they recognized not only what this meant for themselves but for each other.

“All the kids don’t have the money to get all these things, so it’s going to be very helpful for us. We’re already liking all the equipment, and them providing this to us means a lot for us,” senior Anthony Reed said.

And in some special cases, the donation saved a shopping trip planned for later in the day.

“I was literally about to go buy new cleats today, but now I don’t have to thanks to this,” senior Sawyer Bartelt said.