We Are: The Brooklyn Saints

Let's try to get that in there.

You gonna catch the ball?

-Yeah. -All right.

No, Aiden, I'm not a rookie. I've played football since I was four.

I've played football since I was two or three.

Say it! One, two, three… easies!

Welcome to football, fellas!

Get over there, man.

Team, down!

You two, come on. Point the other way.

One!

Go!

You know, the Saints…

Let's go, 9U! Let's show how we work!

…it means, "God's people."

Suck it up. This is football. This is what makes you tough.

All right? Come on.

It's all of us.

You run an angle. Angle hook. Go right.

Ready… Go!

A successful program isn't determined

by how many national championships you have. Yes, that's a good thing,

but our goal is to make sure that every season, we save a life.

The Saints have saved my kid.

Because my son did have a lot of self-esteem issues.

And he didn't know what he wanted to do

until he met the Saints.

I'm not even talking about the NFL.

As long as you can get to college and get a free education, I've done my job.

Go.

People hear about Brooklyn, you know, and East New York.

They think, "Negativity,"

just 'cause the simple fact of the way the news portrays…

You know, 'cause everybody thinks Brooklyn is about the gangs,

and shooting and killing, the ghetto.

And it's really not like that.

- -Yo!

I'm the king of this ship.

If you really look into Brooklyn and into the souls of the people…

- What's up, Mr. Jimmy? -Hey, boy. What up?

Nothing.

…you'll see another side of Brooklyn.

That's a flower. See? That's the tree.

You'll never hear that across the news.

'Cause that's not the things they look for.

All right.

We teach the kids fundamentals of football.

We teach them how to be young men.

Easy. Easy.

We teach the kids to be proud of who you are

and be proud of where you come from.

Easy.

We're not perfect.

It's not easy.

They say it takes a village to raise a child.

Faster, faster!

But the Brooklyn Saints is that village.

This is the Brooklyn people rarely see.

That's the truth.

It's the Brooklyn Saints.

Easy! Let's win this! Good job, Saints!

We are the show.

-Who the show? - We the show!

-Am I my brother's keeper? - You already know!

-Saints on the field! - You know!

-Where we from? - Brooklyn!

-Where we from? - Brooklyn!

Brooklyn!

We are the Saints! We are the Saints!

What grade you in now?

-Huh? -I said, "What grade you in now?"

-Oh, fifth. - All right.

-So you graduate this year? -Yeah.

Going back to Florida?

-Yeah. -Uh-huh.

Y'all won the championship last year?

Uh, no, we lost.

What was the score?

Thirty-two-zip.

Zero?

Yeah.

With you on the team and y'all had zero?

-Yeah. -

I have been playing with the Saints for three years so far.

I'm a quarterback.

I love football because since I was young, that was…

That was the only thing I wanted to do when I was young.

I used to come to the football field when I was two or three, with my dad.

Try to help out, try to play.

Try to practice with him.

You know what's-his-name grew up around the corner.

You know who Curtis Samuel is?

He's on the Carolina Panthers now.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he grew up around the corner.

I used to cut his hair.

You got to make it to that status.

I want to play football for the rest of my life

because that's the only thing I want to do.

Go, D-Lo!

-That's right! Let's go! - Yeah, D-Lo!

- I'm running it left. - This side? Why?

T and down!

On his right.

Ready?

Go!

That's it!

There it is. That's what I'm talking about.

That's the throw I wanted. All-day D-Lo.

- All-day D-Lo? - One of those rare players.

Right? For real. D-Lo all day.

Huddle. Huddle…

When people tell me I have the team on my shoulders,

it feels good because, like, I know that I have this.

I can bring them to a "W." I can bring them to a win.

Being a Saint, it means to…

be respectful, have fun,

and don't think about the past.

- How much games do we have? - I think… about five or ten.

-Yeah, five or ten. -No, I mean, like, the whole season.

- Five or ten! - Ten!

So, like, our season, we might go 6-4.

Only if we do good blocking, and…

-Imagine that he jinxes it. - That's awesome.

-And we go, like, 0-10. - How do you know that?

Watch, you could jinx it, bro. Watch, you gonna jinx it.

Who'd we play last year for the national championship?

Huh?

Did we… Did we play the Ravens--

-Yeah. -…for the national championship?

And then we lost.

When we make it to Florida, I want revenge.

If we do blocking and good running and--

And get better passing and better snaps,

yes… we… could!

Want this one? This is light.

No.

Remember, grab the bag, all right?

Don't push it. Wrap it.

-Okay. -All right?

- -There we go.

To be a Saint, you have to love everybody.

If somebody's down, you've got to pick them up.

On all courses.

It's all love in the Brooklyn Saints.

Like, when we on the field, we're connected.

Instead of just being a sport, it's like a family.

You can just come together and just talk.

We always go to each other's birthday parties,

and we also go to their house.

Like, um, we even go if it's in Long Island.

Everybody on this team is my family.

9U, say, "Welcome, Man Man, to the Brooklyn Saints family."

Welcome, Man Man, to the Brooklyn Saints family.

Everybody give him a quick "Easy" before we start practice.

Easy!

-Y'all ready to work today? -Yes, coach.

All right, let me tighten you up so we can get working, get ready.

Dang, you got big muscles.

But, got a small head.

9U, if you got a mouthpiece, put it in your mouth so you're not talking.

Yes, coach.

Yes, coach.

Let's get him! Let's get him! He ain't going nowhere. Let's get him!

Easy! We want all that smoke this year. Let's get him!

The Saints organization started over ten years ago.

I believe in mid-2009.

…for his head though.

My staff consists of my vice president, Dave,

our founder, Puma, and Shon.

Nice!

And my wife, Khadeja, which is pretty much our administration.

- - Get up, get up, get up!

We used to have what they call, "PAL." "Police Athletic Leagues."

No more.

They used to leave the schools open for activities.

All of those programs are cut.

This is where we step in.

We just try to put you in position where you can better yourself in life.

It don't have to be with sports.

Doctor, a lawyer, it could be any one of those things.

As long as we get you a free education,

we did our job.

Let's get three. Easy. Easy.

With our program, it all starts with Coach Gawuala.

-What's up, young man? How you feeling? -Good.

Welcome to the Saints. Thanks for coming out.

-Saints, how y'all feel? - You know!

That is the heart and soul of our organization.

Everybody, show some love.

It's the Brooklyn way.

Easy. Let's get it.

Happy feet.

- What's going on, bro? -Let's go, boy. I'm here.

I started that back in 2009 when we started the organization.

I felt like I had to salute each kid that came out

to participate into playing football.

'Cause it's not easy and it's a lot. It's a lot to go through,

so that's just me saluting the kids for coming out. I salute them.

Three claps and a salute.