BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Los Angeles Ram Superstars Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams were at North High School Saturday afternoon hosting their youth football camp.<\/p>\n
Over 300 kids laced up their cleats, snagged a photo and some even caught passes from their idols.<\/p>\n
For the players, it was all about standing out, but Eyewitness News discovered how one player stood out as he defines the odds.<\/p>\n
Diabetes isn\u2019t defined by race or gender; in fact it can affect anyone. For LA Rams star, Puka Nacua, it claimed some of his loved ones and now advocate for diabetes awareness. Puka held a football camp and for one football camper who has diabetes, as he defines the odds every day and got to tell his idol why he looks up to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cType one diabetes is not a personality, it’s just something he has, and he’s always known that there are NFL players that have it,\u201d said Youth Football Camper, Levi Jenkins\u2019 Mom, Becca Jenkins, as her son has Type 1 Diabetes. \u201cAnd when he found out that Puka\u2019s Cause for Cleats, raises money for Type 1 Diabetes, he just felt like that’s his hero.\u201d<\/p>\n
Levi Jenkins had Saturday May 30 circled on his calendar, knowing that he would meet his football idol Puka Nacua.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s not really that much people like me,\u201d said Levi. \u201cI think it’s cool that his My Cause My Cleats, is for Type 1 Diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though a Type 1 Diabetic, Levi was poised to attend Los Angeles Rams\u2019 stars Puka Nacua and fellow teammate Kyran Williams\u2019 youth football camp at North High, all apart of a way to inspire the next generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me it means everything,\u201d said Los Angeles Rams Running Back, Kyren Williams. \u201cThis is why I started playing the game, because I know how it motivated, inspired me to go play the NFL. Being able to be in the league, continuing to give back to community, to inspire, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s still surreal to think that this is where my journey is in the NFL, and it’s a blessing to be able to see some of the kids wearing (#12 and #17 jerseys) them, and then to have their family and the parents are representing for the Rams, but then also having my last name on the jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nacua advocates for Diabetes Awareness, something he and Levi have in common.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t really care that I have diabetes,\u201d said Levi. \u201cI just know that I can. I just, I know I can conquer the world, I know I can get through.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think that’s really great that Puka supports kids like my son and is choosing to represent them on a huge platform where he’s basically showing that these kids can play too,\u201d said Levi\u2019s Mom, Becca. \u201cThat this isn’t a diagnosis, it’s just something he has.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Levi got to meet his idol, Nacua was honored to know that he can be a role model to the younger generation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat means a lot,\u201d said Nacua. \u201cMy father has passed away, and I was impacted by that. So, to be able to hear kids use my story as a look of triumph and empowerment to move forward in their journey is super exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were already big fans of (Puka Nacua) his before even finding that out, that was kind of like the icing on the cake,\u201d said Levi\u2019s dad, Allan. \u201cIt was like something that you know he’s bringing light to.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the athletes, they got to lace up their cleats, do a couple drills and even catch some passes from their favorite players.<\/p>\n
For Levi, he was right in the mix and says that just because he is type 1 diabetic, it doesn\u2019t define him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Los Angeles Ram Superstars Puka Nacua and Kyren Williams were at North High School Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-340086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}