Arik Armstead isn’t paid to be soft on the football field, but the San Francisco 49ers star tells PEOPLE he and his teammates love embracing that side of their personalities when they’re spending time together off of the gridiron.

“I play football, so it’s a lot of testosterone and a lot of masculine ego and energy, and all that around, so when I come home and get to be a dad, I get to be softer and I enjoy that side,” Armstead, 29, says. The NFL player shares two daughters, Amiri, 2, and Ayla, 1, with his wife Melinda.

 

Embracing that softer side off of the field has been a valuable bonding tool for his teammates as well.

“There’s a lot of dads on the team. I get to see a different side of my teammates too, and being dads. It’s a lot of fun.”

Most recently, Armstead invited his teammates and their families over for Memorial Day. “I had some of teammates and their families over. We have a bounce house that’s set up in our living room for the girls.”

“We set up the bounce house, we have a pool, and it was a blast,” says Armstead. “Spending time with his teammates “in that element” has been “a lot of fun” for the father of two.

His foundation, the Arik Armstead Project, was founded in 2019. According to the organization’s website, the project “provides youth with positive spaces, tools, and academic support” in Sacramento and the Bay Area of California.

 

Armstead says his driving focus for the foundation is to “provide opportunities for people who don’t have them.”

“It was important for me because I feel education is key and that our youth are our future,” he explains. “I didn’t like that education and opportunity were determined by zip code, and the family you were born into, where you live, or the amount of money you have. I feel that there is a big group of society that is full of potential that doesn’t get tapped into, because they lack resources, and they lack support and opportunities.”