FRISCO, Texas — This is one of the most poignant weeks on the football calendar for the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL, thanks to what both continually do in the community and, as this year's “My Cause My Cleats” campaign gets underway, there is no shortage of good causes you'll see players bring to light with their colorful footwear — Eric Kendricks being a prime example.
The former All-Pro linebacker will don a pair of custom white and electric blue cleats that represent Accelerate Education, a program that focuses on empowering the youth to build their skills in the automotive industry.
Kendricks explained how he came to be a part of such a great movement.
"It was started by former police officers in an effort to get kids off of the streets and into extracurricular activities," he said. "They found that kids who were getting in trouble were smart kids, but maybe the classroom wasn't necessarily for [their style of learning]. They're more hands-on learners. They want to work, and they want to work now.
"The [officers] had an afterschool program where they'd do simple stuff like spark plugs and oil changes, and now it's a program to teach them technical skills to get to the next level of their career paths."
Kendricks' cleats on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals will serve as a reminder of one of the things that fuels him most.
It goes without saying that the automotive industry is one of the most rewarding, if one commits to it, because from Formula 1 to NASCAR (and their developmental leagues) or if it's simply earning a living as a local neighborhood technician, there is no shortage of opportunity.
And seeing as Kendricks has always had a passion for building cars himself, Accelerate Education is a marriage made in heaven for both sides; and especially when factoring in how Kendricks wants to drive home, pun intended, the importance of youth knowing there are nontraditional roads to earning pole position in life.
"It teaches them that, if you're having that much confidence in the classroom, you can visit an auto shop and build the confidence you never knew you had," he said. "Skill development is huge. School is important, and education is important, but the style in which it's always been taught and pushed on us is not always the right answer for everybody.
"There are tons of technical jobs out there, and you can start earning and learning early on, and there's no [one] path to success."
Kendricks' cleats on Monday night against the Cincinnati Bengals will serve as a reminder of one of the things that fuels him most.
