The Fighting Irish Football team trading in their helmets for Santa hats Sunday

 

SOUTH BEND,Ind -- The Fighting Irish football team traded their helmets for Santa hats Sunday morning! The festive tradition shop with a player lets hundreds of children from the Pokagon tribal community and boys and girls club of saint joseph county to pair up with a football player and shop around Meijer for holiday gifts

Junior offensive tackle Aamil Wagner says the opportunity to play elf isn't just heartwarming but sentimental

"There are some really cool Lego sets, I was a little bit of a Legos kid growing up and I've seen them develop so much as we've gotten older. Some of these kids, seeing them so interested in them is so amazing."

The event reminds players like Wagner that in between the day to day as a student athlete they are also influential members of the South Bend community.

"The opportunity to be in here, be on the ground, spend the day with the kids, walk around with them and talk to them, and learn a it about them just means so much it warms our heart."