Coach cancels workout, tells players to shovel driveways of neighbors in need

A western Pennsylvania high school football team is getting praised after their coach canceled a weightlifting session and told them to shovel driveways for those in need following a snowstorm last weekend, CBS station KDKA-TV reports.

Bethel Park High School football coach Brian DeLallo told the station on Monday that helping neighbors would be more rewarding than lifting weights or squatting.

“You get a lot more out of this than ‘did you bench press 300 pounds today?’ This is really cool. It’s a chance to connect with the community and you don’t get many of those, so this is nice,” DeLallo said.

As a major snowstorm took aim at the region Sunday, DeLallo told his team over Twitter that their workout was canceled due to “severe weather” and made a call for action.

“Find an elderly or disabled neighbor and shovel their driveway. Don’t accept any money – that’s our Monday workout,” he tweeted.

The team was off from school because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. According to KDKA-TV, at least 25 players texted DeLallo to tell him they helped shovel their neighbors’ driveways. One of his players, team captain Gavin Moul, told the station that some people would reject their free services because they wouldn’t take money.

However, 83-year-old Danny Varhola was not one of them.

“I’ve been here for 50 years, and these guys are great,” Varhola told KDKA-TV.

Helping out snowed-in neighbors has been a tradition for decades for Bethel High School’s football team, DeLallo said. He credited a coach who was there 25 years before him as the originator of the idea.