Former Chicago Bear Peterson speaks at Newbern Middle

Jan. 31—VALDOSTA — Retired NFL running back Adrian Peterson visited three schools Friday, spreading his story and promoting his 2013 autobiography, "Don't Dis My Abilities".

The former Chicago Bear's itinerary took him to S.L. Mason Elementary at 8:40 a.m. and W.G. Nunn Elementary School at 1 p.m. before finishing up at J.L. Newbern Middle School at 2 p.m.

While at each school, Peterson presented his "Tackling Mental Health" discussion to help students understand the importance of education, battles that students might face and overcoming obstacles that can have an impact on mental health.

Peterson advised students at Newbern to practice enrichment activities, such as reading or working out.

"Go home and read for five minutes. Go home and work out for five minutes," Peterson said. "Work on those things. Work on them. If you do that for a week, that five minutes is going to feel like two seconds. Then you go to 10 minutes, then you go to 20 minutes and the next thing you know, you're going to see those Cs turn to Bs and those Bs turn to As and you're going to see doors open up that you never thought possible."

Since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of mental health has come to the forefront in many institutions — whether it is in the workplace, at school or on the playing field.

Peterson implores students to be vocal about how they are feeling and not be afraid to ask for help when they are struggling or not feeling themselves.

"If you're not feeling OK, let somebody know," Peterson said. "Let your teachers know, let your parents know, let your counselors know, let your principal know, 'For weeks, I've been feeling down in the dumps. I just can't get right. I haven't been feeling myself.' There are programs out there to help you guys be successful. Understand we are here to encourage, to motivate and to educate you guys.

"I'm gonna tell you something, the real world doesn't care about you. They don't care if you're sick. They don't care if your son passed away, which mine did six years ago. They don't care. They want those bills paid. For a football player, they don't care if your ankle hurts. You still have to go to class."

Peterson also stressed the importance of academics as well as understanding social media and the dangers of the various platforms when it comes to students entering high school and trying to enter the workforce or student-athletes trying to gain exposure in hopes of being recruited by college programs.

According to Peterson, who works at Georgia Southern University as the Director of Student-Athlete Development, his goal is "helping my young guys, my freshmen, make that transition from high school to college."

"Everything counts," Peterson said. "Your grades count. Your social media accounts count. The people you hang around counts. What pictures you are posted in count. We just had a recruiting meeting Monday and we just scratched off 15 guys — social media, attitudes, grades, parents. Parents saying, 'Why is my daughter not playing? Why is my son not playing?' We recruit everything.

"I'm going to give you a cheat code — you've still got time. You've still got time, so whatever it is, fix it. If you have a social media account, delete it. If you didn't post it, but you're in the picture, you are affiliated. Those are things we look at when recruiting."

Peterson wrapped up his visit by taking questions from students.

Q: "How did you handle adversity on the football field?"

AP: "By being prepared. It's just like being school. If you know you have a test on Friday, guess what? You should be studying Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so when Friday comes, guess what? You're prepared."

Q: "What motivates you?"

AP: "What motivates me is I had the cheat code — my mama and daddy were both in the house. My dad was strict, but he was fair. My older brother was a great athlete but also a great student. So all I had to do was do the exact same thing my older brother did and it worked.

"I had mama and daddy in the house. Some of you might have one or the other, a grandmother or whoever it is. I'm gonna give you the blueprint of what it takes to be successful: Hard work and distancing yourself from some of your friends, understanding where you're trying to go."

Q: "Can you still play football?"

AP: "You mean running around and hitting? Oh man, I don't know. I'm done. I'm done."

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.