The relationship between motherhood and football is a particularly strong one for Quintin Demps.
"When I think about football, I think about my mom," Demps said. "I have a special place in my heart for mothers because my mom gave birth to me when she was 14-years old. My mom is my hero. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be playing football."
The Texans safety spent Wednesday evening at the second annual Houston Texans Play Safe Moms Clinic presented by GE and Houston Methodist. Demps, a father of four, shared his story with Houston mothers and encouraged their kids to play football.
"Football teaches you a lot about life," Demps said. "Even today I'm still learning how to be a man from the game of football. Sacrifice. Discipline. Commitment. Teamwork. Effort it takes to survive nine years in the most competitive business there is.
"Today, people are doing a better job of making sure the helmets are better, the shoulder pads are better. We are doing a good job making sure everything is much safer. We do things in practice every day to learn how to tackle safe."
A host of experts helped educate mothers about how to keep their children healthy and safe both on and off the field with topics including proper equipment fitting, hydration awareness, and concussion education. The evening began with a Q&A segment featuring the Play Safe Football Moms panel with Hannah McNair, Deepi Sidhu, linebackers coach Mike Vrabel and wife Jen Vrabel and Lynette Brown of GE.
"For the Texans to hold a women's clinic is very important," coach Vrabel said. "Bringing awareness to the sport, the measures that are in place to make it safer, the emphasis on good coaching, the values the kids can learn, playing a sport like football, it's important."
As for the terrific turnout Wednesday evening, Vrabel was hardly surprised.
"I wouldn't expect anything less, Vrabel said. "Women love football and they love their kids and that's why they're out here."
The event concluded with an on-field session where moms could get some hands-on experience with football drills that included a group stretch and Play Safe tackling techniques. Texans ambassadors and cheerleaders took part and signed autographs for moms afterwards.
