It’s not every day you get a birthday surprise from your sports hero, especially when it comes with a signed jersey.
A 12-year-old girl named Addison has a huge love for the Orlando Predators, an arena football team, so her aunt and uncle made sure she got the most perfect birthday present for her big day.
They captured Addison’s priceless reaction to the gift on camera, too.
“We were just so excited. I knew we had to video it,” said Addison’s aunt, Lisa Wetzel.
Wetzel and her husband instilled a love for the Orlando Predators and football in Addison, and that morphed into a love for her favorite player, defensive back Brendon Fuentes.
“I feel like what he did was like, really good, so I feel like if I was older, and let’s say I become something like that ... it’s like a good way to be inspired to treat my fans the same way,” Addison said.
Addison got a signed jersey from Fuentes that he wore during a game that Addison and her family attended. He also sent her a personalized video wishing her a happy birthday.
As for Fuentes, he knows what it means to show up for his fans.
“You know, it really shows the impact you can actually have on a person, and it definitely makes me feel good to be able to give back and, you know, be a positive impact and just lift up someone else. It’s a really good feeling,” said Fuentes.
As you can see in the video above, Addison was practically beside herself when she got the signed jersey and video message from Fuentes. You can tell that she is almost at a loss of words when she opens the gift.
“I just think it was priceless. Her reaction was priceless,” Wetzel said.
The Orlando Predators are finished with the season, but Addison and her family are ready for her favorite team and her hero to take the field again soon.
One thing for certain is that Addison will be sporting her newly signed jersey to every game she attends.
