Never Too Hot For Fun
Rams Recess Puts Inglewood Fifth-Graders in the Game
By Charles Jackson
INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The Los Angeles basin had been almost too hot to play, but never too hot for fun. There was plenty of action on the field Wednesday at Caroline Coleman Stadium, but nobody needed to keep score.
For 552 fifth-graders from schools throughout the Inglewood Unified School District, this was a day to run, play and enjoy being part of the action as the Los Angeles Rams hosted their third consecutive Rams Recess in Inglewood.
The students arrived ready to participate, and the Rams brought along many of the ingredients that can turn an ordinary school day into something memorable: organized physical activities, food, Rams T-shirts, team swag and, of course, Rampage.
The Rams’ energetic mascot was right at home among hundreds of youngsters moving around Coleman Stadium during the nearly two-hour event.
Rams Recess is the team’s local evolution of the NFL’s PLAY 60 youth health and fitness initiative, which was launched in 2007 to encourage children to participate in at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day.
The concept has changed over the years, but Wednesday’s objective remained straightforward — get youngsters outside, get them moving and make exercise fun.
And there was plenty of movement.
Instead of touchdowns, field goals or final scores, success could be measured by participation. Students moved through the day’s activities while Rams personnel and volunteers helped keep things moving across the field.
For the Rams, the event also represented another chapter in a community relationship that has grown alongside the team’s presence in Inglewood.
During the Rams’ 10 seasons since returning to Los Angeles, the organization says it has conducted nearly 180 PLAY 60 activations, reaching more than 80,000 students and youth participants at more than 160 schools and community locations.
That relationship has been particularly visible with Inglewood Unified.
The Rams have supported improvements at Caroline Coleman Stadium, and the field has become a familiar gathering place for programs connecting the NFL franchise with students who attend school only a short distance from SoFi Stadium.
Wednesday’s Rams Recess brought that relationship directly back onto the playing field.
Students also received Rams T-shirts and other team items during
the event. Organizers had announced beforehand that each of the 552 participating students also was scheduled to receive a beach towel commemorating the Rams’ 1951 NFL championship team.
The towels would provide an interesting connection between generations if distributed as planned. The Rams’ 1951 team defeated the Cleveland Browns 24-17 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to capture the NFL championship, giving today’s youngsters a small reminder of a Los Angeles football history that stretches back decades.
But history was mostly taking a back seat to activity Wednesday.
There were youngsters running around the field, volunteers helping guide activities, food being served and Rampage making his way through a crowd of students eager for a little Rams attention and something bearing the team’s familiar colors and logo.
For many of the children, that may ultimately be what Rams Recess is supposed to accomplish.
Physical fitness does not always have to arrive disguised as exercise. Sometimes it can look a lot more like recess.
There were no standings to worry about, no championship on the line and no final score to report from Caroline Coleman Stadium.
Just 552 fifth-graders with a field, an afternoon away from the classroom and plenty of room to play.
On this Wednesday in Inglewood, participation was the only statistic that really mattered.
Just to sprinkle a little historical perspective. The league began in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA). It formally changed its name to the National Football League on June 24, 1922, nearly three decades before the Rams’ 1951 championship season
