Students at Lebanon Middle School in Lebanon, Connecticut, thought they were going to work out with members of the New England Patriots on Tuesday. Instead they got a Patriots intern with an aerobics video.
“I think the hardest thing yesterday was seeing all my kids coming down they had their Sharpies and their footballs and their jerseys and I was like, gosh, what am I gonna do,” said physical education and health teacher Alyssa Fabry.
The school participated in the NFL’s Play 60 program, which encourages young people to stay active, and they were told they were being rewarded with a visit from the Patriots that would include “celebrity coaches.” The school assumed that meant Patriots players and coaches.
But it was just the Patriots intern who attended the event, and a Patriots spokesman told WTNH that “celebrity coaches” actually meant someone like the town’s mayor or the school principal would be asked to serve as a coach.
“I don’t think I am going to do it again next year,” Fabry told the Norwich Bulletin. “They built it up quite a bit and really did not come through.”
I have a feeling the Patriots will make it up to the school by having another event, one with a representative of the Patriots who’s a little more prominent than an intern.