HENDERSON, Nev. –The Las Vegas Raiders teamed up with Intermountain Healthcare in yet another endeavor to assist the Southern Nevada community. Intermountain Healthcare began its partnership with the Las Vegas Raiders as their official healthcare partner in 2019 and have a shared commitment of giving back to the community. The Raiders this week collaborated with Intermountain Healthcare to donate helmets to members of the Canyon Springs and Valley High School football teams. The Raiders and Intermountain Healthcare contingent first traveled to Valley High, where they surprised the Vikings players with new helmets prior to the start of their practice.

"Even before the team started playing in Las Vegas last year, the Raiders showed that they are a first-class and community-first organization, to which we are extremely grateful," said Valley High Head Coach Quincy Burts, who earned Tom Flores High School Coach of the Week honors in 2018. "It was great to see the joy in the faces of our student-athletes after they were surprised with the new helmets. It was a really exciting day, and it means everything to get support from an organization that operates at the highest level."

They then directed the caravan that included Raiders Youth Football and Intermountain representatives as well as Raiders Alumnus Roy Hart to the Canyon Springs campus in North Vegas and surprised members of the Pioneers varsity football team with new Riddell helmets.

"We are humbled and thankful to the Raiders and Intermountain for surprising us with these new helmets, which are very much-need," said Canyon Springs High Head Coach Gus McNair, who was honored by the Raiders with the Tom Flores High School Coach of the Year award in 2018. "How the Raiders have supported youth football and the community in general has been huge. Our school is in a low-funded area and a lot of our kids need help with a lot of things and the Raiders have come right in and have been so helpful. They came into the community and got active right away, even before they were even here. They've done a tremendous job not only with establishing themselves with every school in the valley, which has been impressive."

For every helmet the Raiders and Intermountain purchased at retail cost, Riddell donated one helmet. 

This collaboration comes on the heels of the Raiders and Intermountain combining to host an in-person clinic for youth league coaches and commissioners in Southern Nevada and Southern Utah in preparation for the return to football in 2021. The Raiders and Intermountain also provided the opportunity for more than 600 coaches statewide to virtually receive Heads Up certification. The Raiders and Intermountain covered all clinic costs, including underwriting USA Football Heads Up certification for the coaches to receive training at no charge.

Dr. Tony Kemmochi, a licensed clinical sports psychologist at Intermountain, participated in the clinic to discuss the topic of understanding athletes' unique psychological needs for success, including, understanding psychological factors that can impact athletes' performance and well-being and learning common psychological challenges faced by athletes.  

Earlier this year, Intermountain made a $500,000 contribution to SafeNest to bolster its work on ending domestic violence in Nevada. SafeNest is Nevada's largest nonprofit dedicated to ending the epidemic of domestic violence. Intermountain Healthcare's contribution supports the "Coaching Boys Into Men" and "Athletes as Leaders" programs SafeNest runs in Clark County in 2021 and 2022. Both programs seek to end domestic and sexual violence before it starts by equipping young male and female athletes and their coaches with the resources and skills necessary to build healthy relationships.

This week's event marked the second time that the Raiders surprised Las Vegas youth with free helmets. In 2019, the Raiders collaborated with Xenith to donate football helmets to the Nevada Youth Football League Seahawks and the National Youth Sports Nevada Diamondbacks. The Raiders also hosted a Raiders Junior Training Camp for the youth football organizations who received helmets. Raiders Alumni Roy Hart and Leo Gray spoke to the teams about dedication and hard work before unveiling the surprise of newly donated helmets to the young athletes.