Staff Reporter

LAPLACE – Youngsters always need someone to look up to, but the special guest to one LaPlace preschool had everyone looking up – he towered above even the tallest teacher in the room.

The visitor was New Orleans Saints’ offensive tackle Zach Strief, who came to the Wee Care Center inside First Baptist Church of LaPlace Wednesday morning to talk to a group of about 30 of the tiny tots about exercise and the importance of staying in school.

Zach Strief, offensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints, towers over Wee Care preschoolers (left to right) Lena Niblett, Grant Vial, Layken Epperly and Sadie Niblett during an exercise at the school Wednesday. Strief visited with about 30 preschoolers to talk about the importance of staying in school and the value of exercise. (Staff photos by Robin Shannon)

“This is definitely a unique age to talk to,” said Strief, who has made school visits to kids of all ages. “You can only talk about school so much before they start asking off the wall questions. At this age, I just try to keep them active and hopefully they remember something I said.”

In the hour that he spent with the kids, Strief demonstrated some of the exercises he performs while preparing for a game. The kids did stretches, touched their toes and performed a round of jumping jacks before running laps around the church’s fellowship hall.

After the exercise, Strief sat the kids down to talk about school and take any questions the preschoolers had. Questions like “how many people play on your team?” and “why do you wear those scary masks?” came easier for Strief than the ones he is normally accustomed to on Sunday afternoons.