Suburban boy wins NFL skills contest

January 16, 2012 (HINSDALE, Ill.)

Adams won his age division in the NFL Punt, Pass and Kick competition. Adams was announced during the AFC playoff game this past weekend in Baltimore.

It was quite an honor for a 7-year-old boy who is already a veteran of the competition.

Last year, Luke made the finals but finished last. That experience prepared the now-veteran Luke for this year's competition.

"Last year, on the field, I was like, being goofy, but this year, I was actually really trying really hard, and I did really good this year," said Adams.

Mom and dad are very proud of Luke's achievements but are really not that surprised.

"He is big; he is strong; he is one of the kids that can go out there and hit a home run, so I think my husband figured out pretty early on that this would be something that he would be successful at," said Luke's mother, D'Ann.

Luke's accomplishments stem not only from his stature but also his hard work. Luke practiced at a nearby park and at the local high school football field, but he also practiced with his dad out on the street even before school began in the morning.

Luke's father and grandfather accompanied him to Baltimore for the competition. His mom found out about her son's record-breaking performance through a series of text messages.

"My husband is good at texting, but he texts even shorter than most people, so you're like, 'What do you mean? What do you mean? Broke record?' - but we didn't know," said D'Ann Adams. So I thought my husband was talking about - he had broken a record, but yet I didn't know that he won."

As with a lot of kids, Luke hopes to play professional sports when he grows up and already has his teams picked out.

"I'd like to play for the Yankees for baseball, and I'd like to play for the Saints for football," said Luke.

In fairness, once he was off camera, Luke quickly changed his football team pick to the Bears.

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