Real athletes dance
March 30, 2007

By William Lee Staff writer

Daily Southtown

Don't tell former Thornton High School football star Napoleon Harris or Thornridge High coach Larry Dawson that real men can't dance ballet, take pilates or do yoga.

Dawson, the defensive coordinator for Thornridge's varsity football team and a former college player, wasn't happy about having to take ballet in college to increase flexibility -- and was even less pleased with the required wardrobe.

"I went to the class, and the instructor said you have to put these tights on," Dawson told about 40 students Thursday at Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago's Beverly community. "I said I'm 300 pounds, I'm not putting these tights on. But after I did that, it worked out for me very good and I learned a lot doing ballet."

Dawson's pep talk came just before the third- through fifth-grade students gave a hip-hop-style dance routine through a pilot program, Athletes for Kids, which is part of a national program called After School All-Stars.

For a week, the students were taught about dance instruction and stretching exercises from principal dancers from the famed Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem companies. Athletes for Kids aims to teach students the virtues of dance instruction and mental focus, organizers said.

Harris, a Kansas City Chiefs linebacker, told the students, their parents and teachers that he uses pilates and yoga to increase his flexibility, saying it was essential to his success on the gridiron. After the program, Harris said notions of dance and alternative exercise as not being manly are misguided.

"Things do get distorted because people put things in a box, and I think this is a chance to step outside the box and broaden your horizons," Harris said. "This is an opportunity for young kids to think differently."

Also in attendance Thursday were former Bears tackle Steve Edwards and Sam McNabb, father of Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.

Sam McNabb, president of a mentoring and philanthropic group with other NFL dads, partnered his organization with the Virginia Ballet Theater to help show the correlation between dance and athletics. He said the Athletes for Kids program shows what his organization could achieve.

"We wanted to try to create an organization of NFL fathers who were interested in trying to help their sons maximize their potential both on and off the field," McNabb said. "And with that we wanted to implement good character and all the other good traits that go along with that."

Kellogg is one of 188 city schools participating in After School All-Stars.

William Lee may be reached at
wlee@dailysouthtown.com
or (708) 633-6747.