2004 Carolina Cobras: A Team for the Community
Chuck DiLullo
Friday July 2, 2004
Dean DeMarais, the team’s director of media and community relations, joined the Cobras from the Grand Rapids Rampage and immediately focused on developing programs and initiatives that would promote involvement between the team and the youth of the metro Charlotte area.
“One of the biggest things we did this year was the Adopt-A-Cobras program where we had eight different players partner with eight different Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools,” said DeMarais. “It was a season long initiative where the players participated in anything from reading with the kids to helping the kids with certain subjects. The players also reinforced the importance of staying off drugs and staying in school.”
The program is designed to develop long-term relationships between the students in the area and the Cobras players. Each school “adopted” a player who then serves the school in many ways, including the aforementioned activities. Players also participated in athletic events, autograph signings and photo opportunities. The first year of the program saw players make over 30 appearances at the different schools and plans are in the works to carry over the success of the initiative into the 2005 season.
“We wanted to get away from the brief, one-time visit that a lot of teams do,” said DeMarais. “I think the impact of these visits is elevated to a whole different level when the players visit three, four, five times a year and where the kids really get to know the players and come see them play in a game.”
The Cobras dance team, the Snake Charmers, were also involved in a number of events during the season with the highlight being the Junior Snake Charmers camp surrounding the final home game versus the Grand Rapids Rampage. Over fifty girls from the area worked with the Snake Charmers during the course of the Saturday leading up to the evening game with the highlight being the performance of a dance number at halftime with members of the Snake Charmers.
“The Snake Charmers have worked with the M.D.A., the American Diabetes Association and we participated in a reading program with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg library system where we went out to different libraries in Charlotte to read to and with the kids during the season,” said Snake Charmers choreographer Brandii McCoy. “But the clinic is the most fun because we actually get to interact with the kids on what we do, which is great.”
“The Cobras also partnered with Charlotte-Mecklenburg and Gaston County schools where we allowed them to sell tickets to our games where they got to keep the proceeds,” said DeMarais. “It was a win-win situation for both. They were able to raise funds and we were able to expose our product to a whole new group of potential fans.”
The Cobras also hosted an evening for a number of residents of Charlotte-area youth group homes where players participated with children in a variety of activities ranging from go-carts to bumper boats to batting cages to arcade games.
The Cobras players and coaches also hosted a youth football clinic at the Charlotte Coliseum for members of the Charlotte-area Big Brothers/Big Sisters. The event was attended by nearly 30 kids where coaches and players provided instruction in a variety of football disciplines.
First year OL/DL Troy Pelshak was awarded the 2004 Cobras Award for community service and leadership. Pelshak, a Charlotte native, spent many hours with the youth of the Charlotte area and was a key participant in the Adopt-A-Cobra program. Pelshak also volunteered many, many hours to help the team’s efforts with the area’s underprivileged, including distributing sweatshirts to residents of the Uptown Men’s Shelter during the Christmas season.
The Cobras closed the 2004 season with a six-game improvement over the previous campaign and took huge strides in forging their identity with the youth of Charlotte, and they will look to continue their success and youth proactivity in the 2005 season.
Chuck DiLullo works for a manufacturer of process control instrumentation as a sales engineer. He has been a fan of professional, college and high school football since he could walk. Chuck is originally from Philadelphia and he became a huge Arena Football League fan while living in Buffalo. Chuck has lived in Charlotte since 2000 with his wife & three children.
