BY CALLY ANDERSON
For the last 20 years, Monday Night Football has been hosted by the FHSU Football team to provide the Littles of Ellis County’s Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) program a night of games and community involvement. Each year a group of the underclassmen from the team gathers at the Schmidt-Bickle Training Facility to set up activities and drills to lead the children through.
“It’s a good time to come out and have fun with the Littles, provide good examples and be a role model for them,” second-year safety football player Beau Foster said.
Freshman quarterback, Kyler Semrad, agrees.
“[It is] great to be out in the community and represent FHSU football, get my teammates out in this environment and help with little kids,” he said.
Monday Night Football is an opportunity for the men of the football team to learn more information and be exposed to what it could be like to be a Big Brother. The current need for Big Brothers is a struggle for BBBS, as there is a lack of interest by potential male mentors. Each year through this event, BBBS has been able to recruit a few male mentors and the FHSU football team has six current matches.
This event was put on with the help of a former FHSU football player who is now a graduate assistant defensive line football coach, Kiel Simas. After attending the Monday Night Football during his time on the team in 2016, he felt led to apply and become a Big Brother to a waiting Little with whom he still mentors currently.
Simas has been paired with his Little for six years now, from second grade through middle school.
“My favorite part is going to see my Little at school or picking them up and seeing a smile on his face, knowing we are going to have a good time and hang out,” Simas said.
Having grown up in a similar situation to the Littles of BBBS, Simas recommends being a Big to show you can be a role model for younger children. Being a Big Brother or Big Sister allows people like Simas to give back to their community and learn to understand how kids react to certain situations, which has been helpful for him.
The night ended with laughter and food as all of the Littles and football players had dinner together. This yearly partnership is a great opportunity because it reaches out to these young men and can help them realize that they have the potential to be important and influential role models in their community.
If you have any interest in becoming a mentor, you can sign up for more information at https://www.kansasbigs.org/be-a-big. You must be able to make a one-year time commitment and be ready to positively impact the lives of youth in your community.