BOCA RATON, Fla. \u2014 It was a day of joy for a football team in Boca Raton as they received a surprise visit from the Miami Dolphins bearing gifts.<\/p>\n
Christmas came early at Spanish River High School as the Dolphins brought with them a variety of equipment, including Guardian caps, training gear, shoes, gloves, cleats and hats.<\/p>\n
WATCH BELOW: Spanish River HS football team receives gear giveaway from Dolphins<\/p>\n
Spanish River HS football team receives gear giveaway from Dolphins<\/p>\n
It’s all a part of their Junior Dolphins program, where they’re looking to mold the next generation of future stars.<\/p>\n
“This is really cool, this is like Christmas in September right now,” Spanish River head football coach Nick LaSala said.<\/p>\n
It’s only September, but Dolphins starting offensive linemen Patrick Paul and Jonah Savaiinaea played the part of Santa Claus on Tuesday, handing out the gear to the youngsters. <\/p>\n
While Santa still has a few more months to go at the North Pole, it was the Miami Dolphins arriving through the chimney at Spanish River with Fins gear.<\/p>\n
“It was very cool and exciting,” Spanish River High School senior linebacker Carmelo Maldonado said. “We had no idea that they were going to come.”<\/p>\n
Maldonado, a lifelong Dolphins fan, said this is a dream come true.<\/p>\n
Two weeks ago, he lost his grandfather, who started his family’s love for the ‘Fins.<\/p>\n
“It’s a good reminder that everything happens for a reason, and it’s a blessing that the Miami Dolphins came,” Maldonado said.<\/p>\n
Paul, who is in his second year with the Dolphins, soaked up the special moment.<\/p>\n
“It’s great, and I’m just excited to be here, just in this environment and to share my story,” Paul said.<\/p>\n
For Spanish River wide receiver Malik Frederick, he said the gesture gave his squad added motivation for this season.<\/p>\n
“It’s my last year, so I’ve got to give it my all,” Frederick said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOCA RATON, Fla. \u2014 It was a day of joy for a football team in Boca Raton as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":355437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2049],"tags":[19103,217,7,216,251,2087,6,63446],"class_list":{"0":"post-355436","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-miami-dolphins","8":"tag-boca-raton","9":"tag-dolphins","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-miami","12":"tag-miami-dolphins","13":"tag-miamidolphins","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-spanish-river-high-school"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115176977599326380","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=355436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/355436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/355437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=355436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=355436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=355436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}