To celebrate his birthday, New England Patriots long snapper Joe Cardona got to bring his teammates to work on Wednesday.
Not at Gillette Stadium — but to Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island.
"It definitely feels a bit like bringing your friends to work — a little merging of my two worlds," said Cardona, who also serves as a lieutenant in the United States Navy Reserve in addition to his career in the NFL.
"I've spent so much of my life on base here in Newport — whether it's going to school at the Naval Academy Prep School or, most recently, being a supply officer at MSRON-8. So getting these guys to come on base and interact with military kids in a military community I know so well — there's nothing better."
Cardona's two worlds collided thanks to a Football for You clinic put on by the Patriots Foundation in collaboration with Cross Insurance at Prichard Field on base — just a few hundred feet from the barracks where the two-time Super Bowl champion used to live.
Teammates Robert Spillane, Ben Brown, Truman Jones and Miles Battle joined Cardona and Patriots alumni players Tully Banta-Cain, Thomas Clayton and Woodrow Hamilton in running the clinic.
Between 100 and 150 kids, split up into age groups between 7 and 14 years old, rotated through six drills that tested their skills and agility. Each kid left with a Football for You T-shirt, a Patriots gift bag and a massive smile in celebration of the Month of the Military Child.
"I was in their shoes," Cardona said of the children.
"I grew up in a military family. I know what it's like to have a parent who is committed to a mission that takes up so much of their time or has to spend months away. So for us to be able to give back is a really great opportunity for me to share with my teammates and show them how excited these kids are. Even if they're from all over the country, as they spend time here in New England, these experiences really make the most of it. Whether the kids stay here in New England or move on to different communities, this is the stuff they'll remember forever."
