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Super Bowl Champ Wants to Get Kids Reading: ‘More Important Than Football’

american football, ball, field, grass, nature, american football, american football, american football, american football, american footballSuper Bowl Champ Wants to Get Kids Reading: ‘More Important Than Football’

By Movieguide® Contributor

Former Super Bowl champion Malcolm Mitchell wants to help kids read.

“I grew up a struggling reader. It was very difficult for me,” Mitchell told CBN News of where his desire to encourage kids’ reading habits came from.

Although Mitchell would go on to be a great wide receiver at the University of Georgia, he could only read at a middle-school level. He knew he needed to up his game in the classroom.

“I saw people doing things that I had never seen before, like study and read and write and use their brain to get the outcome that they wanted. And I immediately started realizing that reading was the most self-empowering tool a person could possess,” the former NFL player said.

“Just as I practiced football, I would practice reading, and over time I would get better and better and better,” Mitchell continued. “And then I learned the consequences of low literacy, and that only inspired me to want to do the same thing for others that books had done for me and that was encouraged them to read.”

With that motivation driving him, Mitchell wrote the children’s book, “The Magicians Hat.”

“So, ‘The Magician’s Hat’ is a story about a magician teaching kids some magic tricks. But the best trick of all is proving to kids that reading can help you make your dreams come true,” he said.

READ MORE: GRANDFATHER USES YOUTUBE TO READ BEDTIME STORIES TO THOUSANDS

“READBowl is the FREE global reading competition where PreK-12th grade aged teams around the globe compete to read for the most minutes,” his website explains. “The competition begins the week before the American College Football National Championship (2nd Monday in January) and culminates with a live crowning of the World Champions of Reading on the morning of the National Football League’s (NFL) Super Bowl Sunday.”

Though Mitchell counts his Super Bowl win as one of the biggest moments in his life, he considers helping students his greatest achievement.

“Maybe it made people smile for just a moment, if I caught a pass or scored a touchdown or made a block, but then it’s fleeting,” he explained. “Books are permanent, and I was playing football to help me. I started writing to help others. I stand by that statement. I cherish the books much more than I do the ring. Not try to devalue what that means in society, but reading is more important than football, period.”

READ MORE: COUNTRY MUSIC ICON HONORS HER DAD THROUGH LITERACY PROGRAM


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