Imagine the thrill of running through the player tunnel onto the field of an NFL stadium and having thousands of people cheer as your name is announced over the public address system.
Pablo Desales, 6, of Santa Barbara competed in the Punt, Pass & Kick team championships before the New England Patriots-San Diego Chargers game.
And, you get to hang out on the field and watch the New England Patriots and San Diego Chargers warm up before their nationally televised Sunday night game.
Santa Barbara’s Pablo Desales got to experience all of that last Sunday at a sold-out San Diego Qualcomm Stadium. Pablo earned that fantastic opportunity by winning two rounds of the NFL’s Punt, Pass & Kick competition.
Six-year-old Pablo, a kindergartner at Marymount School and the son of Dyana Castro and Joe Desales, qualified for the PP&K team championship round. He represented the San Diego Chargers.
Pablo finished third in the 6-7 age division.
“The experience was amazing and we are looking forward to next year’s competition,” said Castro, an education specialist at Santa Barbara High.
She said Pablo’s grandfather, Amador Castro, and godfather, Amador Herman Escalante, helped prepare him for the competition. He took top honors in his division in the local and sectional rounds.
Pablo’s favorite college football team is USC — where his sister attends — and his favorite NFL team is the Indianapolis Colts.
Said his mom: “His favorite player is Andrew Luck, who has inspired him to want to attend Stanford University.”
