Football coach says he 'couldn't hold back my tears' after video of boy crying while reading thank you letter goes viral

Megan Johnson
Updated
A football player watching his teammates on the field.
A young football player's reaction to his coach is going viral and melting hearts. (Photo: Getty Images stock)

Get ready to grab the tissues, because a viral video of a 6-year-old boy thanking his football coach will officially give you all the feels.

Jayden, a first-grade student at Charles Elementary School in Richmond, Ind., wanted to thank his football coach for his hard work through the season. In the video, he presents Coach Richard with a mug that reads “A good coach can change the game. A great coach can change a life.”

“Thanks, buddy!” Coach Richard Nelloms says while embracing Jayden. But that wasn’t the only thing Jayden had for his coach.

“Hold on, he’s got a little note he wrote you,” Jayden’s mother, Courtney Wigginton, can be heard saying behind the camera.

The little boy soon pulled out a heartwarming letter he wrote for Nelloms, and read it aloud while his mom caught it on video.

“Dear Coach Richard, you have been the greatest coach of my life. I love you Richard,” Jayden reads, as he starts to break down crying. “You help me love football again. Thank you for being my favorite coach. Love, Jayden.”

The TikTok video has since gone viral.

On his Facebook page, Coach Richard Nelloms shared that while he was able to hold back tears when Jayden presented him with the letter, he did break down upon rewatching the video.

“I held it together when Jayden was reading to me. But after I watched it, I couldn’t hold back my tears,” Nelloms writes. “This was something that I felt so lucky to have an opportunity to do ... I felt blessed with the chance to be myself and teach my players how to have fun no matter what. It’s a dream of mine to make an impact on as many souls as possible. Thank you Jayden for allowing me to fulfill a dream of mine!!! GO TIGERS.”

In a Facebook post, Jayden’s mother shared an emotional response to the video’s impact.

“Our hearts are overwhelmed!!!” Wigginton told her followers. “We never in a million years thought something like this would spread the way it has.”

She went on to add, however, that she has also received “disrespectful” feedback, telling a concerned follower that she’s seen “racial comments” and people “making fun” of her son.

“Welcome to 2019, where people make it their duty to make sure they speak negative on positive situations,” she wrote.

Yahoo Lifestyle reached out to Wigginton, but was unable to reach her at the time of publication.

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