More than 300 participate in Mat-Su Play 60 Challenge

WASILLA — Tom Cable stood near the center of the Menard Center indoor turf Thursday morning, looking across a field full of activity. It’s a familiar vantage point for Cable, a football coach with about 30 years of combined experience at the collegiate and professional levels. But Thursday, Cable, the assistant head coach and offensive line coach for the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, was playing a different role.

Cable was one of a handful of members of the Seahawks organization on hand to be a part of the Mat-Su Play 60 Challenge, an event hosted each year by the Mat-Su Sea Hawkers, a local club that’s not only a booster club for the NFL team, but a nonprofit group which aides a number of Valley causes. The annual Mat-Su event is based on the NFL’s Play 60 Challenge, which was created to inspire children to become more physically active.

“I think it’s amazing,” Cable said Thursday of the turnout, which included more than 300 children, ages 6-15, participating in a variety of activities. “Anytime you get this many kids out, it’s pretty special.”

Seahawks offensive linemen Kristjan Sokoli and Terry Poole, Seahawks Sea Galls Kylie and DeDjuana, and Seahawks vice president of community relations Mike Flood were also part of the day, which included a variety of activities to keep the participants moving.

“I’m old school. Anytime you get kids out playing and off the tech stuff, I’m probably most excited about that,” said Cable, a former head coach of the Oakland Raiders and University of Idaho Vandals.

Throughout the morning, large groups of boys and girls rotated through a series of activities and drills related to not just football, but also soccer, hockey and tennis. Cable said it was good to see the variety of activities for the participants.

“It’s about as important as anything,” Cable said. “With all of these one-sport kids and club teams, and all that stuff, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Of course, when I played, you didn’t do that. You played three sports, four sports a year. It’s just good that they’re playing. It doesn’t matter what they’re playing. I love the fact it’s very diverse.”

Mat-Su Sea Hawkers president Tom Spindler echoed Cable’s sentiments, urging activity among youth.

“(We want) for them to remember, there’s more to life than just playing on your computer. You’ve got to get outside and play,” Spindler said.

Spindler and the Sea Hawkers have been hosting the Mat-Su event for seven years, and have watched interest in the event and participation rapidly grown during that time.

“The growth is phenomenal,” Spindler said. “The kids are turning out every year.”

Mat-Su’s inaugural event drew about 150 kids, Spindler said. Thursday, about 325 kids were in attendance.

“It’s to the point where we almost have to say no, because of capacity issues,” Spindler said. “If you could guarantee the weather would be good outside, you could have unlimited kids. But you just can’t.”

Spindler said the Sea Hawkers have considered adding an Anchorage event, but the focus remains on the Valley.

“We started here in the Mat-Su, and we like promoting the Mat-Su,”

Spindler said.

The Mat-Su Play 60 Challenge is part of a list of activities planned for the group representing the Seattle organization. Earlier in the week, the group visited Barrow. Friday, the group will travel to Seward for a fishing trip with athletes from Special Olympics Alaska. The trip to 49th state also includes visits to hospitals, and a benefit auction and dinner for Special Olympics Alaska.

Spindler praised the Seattle Seahawks organization for the support of the local events, and work to help bring representatives of the team to Alaska each year.

“That’s what’s been phenomenal,” Spindler said.

Most of all, Spindler said the Sea Hawkers are excited to see hundreds of local kids attend each year.

“It’s awesome. I love that they turn out. It shows they are excited. They want to do things. They just want someone to do them with, someone that shows interest in them,” Spindler said.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.