Last week, Inter Miami CF players and staff participated in day-long festivities to honor active military, first responders and veterans at the Club’s facilities. The festivities included a fútbol match with our local heroes taking the pitch at Inter Miami’s world-class Florida Blue Training Center, and followed by an early Thanksgiving lunch celebration at Chase Stadium’s Northwest Club.
The day’s excitement kicked off at 9 a.m with our local heroes swapping their official badges for the Inter Miami crest in the “For Those Who Serve Us Tournament”. All teams supplied their own coaches, with appearances by Inter Miami players Yannick Bright and Robert Taylor who assisted in coaching efforts as the matches continued. The teams in the tournament included the United States Southern Command– Military, United States Coast Guard District 7 Units, a co-team of the City of Miami PD & Miami-Dade County PD and local members of the United States Customs and Boarder Patrol who were our tournament winners. During these matches, our local heroes had the chance to experience the role of a professional footballer first-hand, while also getting the opportunity to connect with Inter Miami First Team players on a personal level.
The festivities continued following the match with Inter Miami players and front-office staff serving up a hearty meal in a “Serving Those Who Serve Us” event. With the help of our partner, OVG, Inter Miami showed out for our safety leaders with an early Thanksgiving feast featuring turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mac & cheese, and an array of desserts with the pumpkin bread pudding as the hit of the day.
“It’s really the least that we can do as a club to thank them for everything they do for us,” said Camila Jocelyn-Holt, Inter Miami’s Director of Community Engagement. “I think our priority was to get individuals that sacrifice their life day in and day out to come out and have a good time, have a once in a lifetime experience of playing in our training facility with each other, building a spirit of camaraderie, friendship, and then bringing them over and actually giving them a meal and serving them.”
Following in Camila’s mission, players that showed up from the team side included, Marcelo Weigandt, Oscar Ustari, David Martinez, Noah Allen and Julian Gressel who offered a few words of respect and thanks to our local heroes. Each spent their afternoon engaging in meaningful conversation with all who attended and offering their gratitude.
“It’s such an important job as a first responder, you know, they give to us, they help us, they serve for us,” said Noah Allen, Inter Miami CF defenseman. “I think this is a time of giving right now around Thanksgiving and it’s always important to give back not only to them but to everyone.”
Each year Inter Miami CF holds an initiative for Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. This year, our Community team decided to host both giving initiatives at once, featuring the Veteran’s Day fútbol tournament and a friendly Thanksgiving feast for all.
Inter Miami CF would like to thank our loyal partners for helping to make this event a success. Special thanks to Splendor, BODYARMOR, Celsius, Publix and Heineken who contributed to enhance the event and to Fracht for lending their time.
