Yasmeen said she and Zy had begun talking about his wish several months beforehand, and she knew he’d choose something surrounding the Vikings. He’d started playing flag football at age 6 and after a couple of years transitioned to tackle football.
“He’s just super, super into football,” Yasmeen chuckled. “He loves Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison; they’re his absolute favorites. We’ve been to Vikings games together, and we follow the team everywhere. We’re all huge Vikings fans.
“When they told him he would be able to get a Wish granted, his first idea was wanting to go to the Super Bowl … but then was like, ‘How about I be the Vikings coach for a day?’ He was super excited, and we are extremely thankful,” Yasmeen added.
O’Connell is equally thankful for the opportunity to spend time with young people like Zy, who had been overjoyed to walk into a conference room and find the complete coach’s outfit laid out for him.
“Everybody did a great job, down to every detail. He was ready to go,” O’Connell commented. “He was ready to walk out there and start calling plays and run the show.”
Zy stayed by O’Connell’s hip, watching him run plays and offer feedback or pointers to his players. The young fan even got a chance to call a couple of plays for quarterback Sam Darnold, who also leaned into the experience.