Every season, the NFL lets players raise awareness through their pre-game cleats. The “My Cause, My Cleats” initiative takes place weeks 13 to 15 every season. During these weeks, all the players have the ability to have creative cleats for a charitable cause of their choice.
Some players have raised awareness for autism, cancer, police brutality and many more. Each pair of cleats are visually appealing, while raising awareness for an issue they truly believe in.
Mike Davis, running back for the Seattle Seahawks, dedicated his cleats for a cause to his father. Davis’s father is battling colon cancer, so Davis wanted to raise awareness for this issue through his cleats. This is a platform players want to participate in so people at home watching are made aware of issues that may not be brought to light as much as they should be.
A lot of the players use this platform to raise awareness for violence. Will Parks, safety for the Denver Broncos, is using his cause for cleats to bring awareness to the violence in Philadelphia. Parks grew up in Philadelphia and lived in the city until going to Arizona for college. Philadelphia Ceasefire is the charity Parks chose to represent on his cleats. Philadelphia Ceasefire is a charity that has the goal to reduce the shootings and homicides in Philadelphia.
This is a great idea by the NFL because it creates awareness while players are playing for a charity of their choice. Every player goes above and beyond for this initiative by the league. A lot of players choose a personal charity that has affected them in their life at some point.
Calvin Ridley, a wide receiver for the Atlanta Falcons, has his cleats in memory of what he went through as a child. Ridley chose the charity of SOS Children’s Village-Florida, which is a foster care for children who have been abandoned or orphaned.
Photo by: Atlanta Falcons Twitter
The same foster care took Ridley and his brothers in when they were young. All these players and many more have shared personal stories through their cause for cleats. As someone that looks up to these players, it is inspiring that they have the courage to want to make change for these charities. The league gives all the players to raise awareness and money for a charity they want and the players take full advantage of it.
There are so many issues in the world that aren’t talked about as much as they should be. The charities that work on these issues gain popularity for all the work they do for the issue at hand. This initiative by the NFL helps the charities gain traction and push their work for the national eye that people at home might not even know exist.
This is why the NFL came up with this idea. It lets the players express an issue that means a lot to them while promoting a charity that fights for that issue.
