Don't worry, Patriots special teams star Cody Davis aged himself too when he recalled how his love for video games began while playing on a Nintendo game console with his brother. Since then they've graduated to playing Rocket League together on PC Gaming.
Why is he still drawn to it, you ask? Just like playing a sport, it's competitive.
"I've always been super competitive with everything that I do and that doesn't change with video games. So me and my brother have gotten into plenty of fights over video games trying to beat each other," said Davis.
Davis not only plays against his brother, he is also involved in dad gaming communities which inspired him to launch a charity of his own.
"This idea for Cody's Gamers bloomed from that and I just saw the opportunity to connect kids with needs with professional athletes, gamers or celebrities to play video games and just bring joy,'' said Davis.
The first gamer to participate in Davis' program was a 10-year old named Aiden from Fort Worth, Texas who was born with vanishing gastroschisis. He was recovering from his 84th surgical procedure at Boston Children's Hospital when he had the opportunity to join Cody on Twitch for an afternoon of gaming before returning home to Texas.
"It was awesome, Aiden was an amazing kid. We played Super Smash Bros and he pretty much wiped the floor with me and then we transitioned over to Rocket League and it was a battle to the very end. He actually came away with an overtime goal to seal the championship best out of three. I hope he is feeling better soon and that's what it's all about making these memories with kids," said Davis.
The one-on-one with Aiden marked the first session of Cody's Gamers and the Patriots leading special teams tackler this past season is hopeful about the future of his gaming program.
"We are starting slowly to learn lessons and improve the program. We are starting with Boston's Children's Hospital having these one-on-one events and we will kind of grow from there," said Davis.
While Cody's Gamers is temporarily a local partnership with Boston Children's Hospital, Cody Davis plans for the program to evolve into larger events involving multiple kids, celebrities and athletes playing on Twitch to raise money for hospitals.
