Meet The Cutie Who Gets to Kick Off the Super Bowl
Photo: Courtesy Pittsburgh Steelers/Karl Roser
More than one thousand children competed to become the eighth NFL PLAY 60 Super Kid and score a trip to the Super Bowl on February 1, but a 12-year-old boy named Bobby Sena clinched the most votes to win – and not because the Orlando pre-teen looks just like the Pittsburgh Steelers pro Troy Polamalu (below).
Photo: Getty Images/Courtesy Pittsburgh Steelers/Karl Roser
“I couldn’t have done it without my school helping me,” the 6th grader tells Yahoo Parenting. “We went around town knocking on people’s doors and said, ‘Will you vote for me?’ So I really thank them for helping me make this dream a reality.”
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The truth is, Bobby earned the opportunity (a weeklong getaway to Phoenix complete with NFL network appearances, player meet-and-greets, and the honor of running on the field to hand the referee the ball moments before kickoff) with the inspiring work he’s done in his community. The NFL Play 60 contest, established in 2007, challenges kids to get active for, you guessed it, 60 minutes a day, to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity. Bobby does that by playing his beloved football and golf, and bike riding alongside his speed-walking mom in a 4-mile loop each morning before school. He also inspires his classmates to get moving, too.
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The go-getter established Fuel Up to Play 60 clubs in both his elementary and middle schools, secured grants to plant neighborhood gardens and campaigned to secure his win so his Orlando middle school, Hunters Creek, could nab the $10,000 in gym equipment promised to each Play 60 winner. He is, as he declares in his video submission to the contest, “passionate about eating healthy and playing outside.” Even his favorite after-school snack is diet-friendly: arugula salad with watermelon.
“Bobby has always been very open minded about new things, which made it easy to get him to try different foods and eat healthy when he was young,” Bobby’s mom Marybelle Sena tells Yahoo Parenting. And now the student has become the teacher. “He’s gotten me off of drinking Coca Cola,” she says. “And he’s always on my husband to eat healthier. I’m extremely proud of him. I couldn’t have asked for a better kid.”
Sena with the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Brett Keisel. Photo: Courtesy Pittsburgh Steelers/Karl Roser
But Bobby doesn’t want to be a nutritionist, trainer or even NFL player when he grows up — he’s going to be a politician. “I want to be a government official,” he says. “I want to change my community for the better. That’s a job that has always seemed interesting to me. I want to go out and help America.”
Just don’t expect him to cut his hair for the photo ops. “I’ve been growing it out since I was three,” says Bobby. “I would never cut it. It’s something I like and makes me feel cool. This is my look.”
Get ready to see his “look” for yourself Feb. 1 when Bobby makes his TV debut. [Watch Super Bowl XLIX live here and on NBC Sports - Sunday at 6 p.m. ET]. “It’s pretty exciting to say I’m going to the Super Bowl,” the Super Kid says. “Once I get there I know I’ll feel like I did the first time we went to Disney World – just so excited to be seeing all these cool different things and be in the best place in the world!” Until he heads to the Oval Office some day, that is.
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