Mike’s USA football trip

My name is Daniel Luparello and I am a football coach in Herndon Virginia. I have been coaching youth league and high school football for the past seven years. When I began coaching, I met Michael Rivera one hot August day. Michael wasn’t the best player by any means and he would show up late almost everyday for the first couple of weeks of practice. I finally asked Michael why he was consistently late to practice and I found out that he would walk two miles to practice everyday with his little brother because his mother did not have a car. That’s when I realized Mike was special. He was willing to put in so much effort to have the opportunity to play and become a better football player. I decided I was going to help Mike however I could. I started by taking Mike to and from practice everyday. Due to Mike’s inexperience and lack of athleticism in football, he wanted me to pick him up an hour early for practice so he could train more, which we did. When he told me he was having trouble with school, I brought him home, gave him a sandwich and helped him. Fast forward a couple of years and Mike is now a sophmore in high school. This past football season, Mike was a two way starter on the varsity team while maintaining 3.0+ GPA with a very rigorous class schedule compromised of honor and advance placement courses. Because of Mike’s unrelenting work both in school and on the field, Mike was recently hand picked out of thousands of athletes to attend the USA Football National training camp in Canton Ohio this June. This is a huge opportunity for Mike and his future. At the camp he will be exposed to many different college coaches and recruiters. This could save Mike thousands of dollars for college by recieving scholarships and potential offers to play football in college. Mike and his family have suffered great loss and hardships. I want to help Mike and his family as best as I can however, it will be difficult to do so on my own. I will drive Mike to Canton and stay with him during tryouts but I can’t afford to foot the bill myself- I am still in college and working an hourly job and coaching. I have set a goal for $750. This goal should cover the registration of the camp ($599) and hopefully most of the travel expenses. I would love to see Mike have this opportunity that he has worked so hard for and I would be very grateful for any donations that would help get him there. This time it really is going to take a village- Thank you for your consideration.

Daniel Luparello