Rising Stars Shine Brightly at Camp
Story submitted by
Adam Laufer Esq., USA
October 24, 2002

The 60 boys who recently attended the Rising Stars football camp sponsored by American Youth Football got a little more than they bargained for.

The boys, age 10-12 from inner-city neighborhoods in a number of different Ohio cites, got some lessons in life in addition to learning about football, according to Camp Director Karl Gaston.

"We worked on football skills in the morning, and in the afternoon we would have speakers come in and talk to the kids," Gaston said.

The speakers handled a variety of different topics, from how people are perceived based on their actions to a motivational speech to a talk on perseverance to the power of visualization.

"Everything we did was a lesson," Gaston said. "Even to sit down and have breakfast, it was an etiquette lesson on how to act when you're eating a meal in a public situation."

The four-day camp took place at the Camp America facility in Oxford, Ohio. The purpose was to get the boys away from their usual environment and give them a chance to experience football and learn about life.

We wanted to offer them a structured situation to understand just the basic fundamentals of the game of football, and really, above and beyond that, to give them life lessons to really plant some serious life seeds in these boys," Gaston said.

"These kids had a chance to be in a situation they were not normally in. They got three structured meals a day, with snacks and desserts -- these kids are not used to that."

The highlight for the boys was the football.

"They couldn't wait to get to that part where they could get out there and play the flag football games," Gaston said.

The success of this first effort will allow the program to double in size next year, adding a second four-day session for an additional 60 kids.

"This was a great opportunity and I'm excited to do it again next year," Gaston said.