Camden Phelps fidgeted, twisted and turned his body almost 180 degrees.
His head, which just a few seconds earlier was facing the visitors’ grandstand at French Field, had swiveled toward the home portion of the stadium.
Asked what Karney’s 44 Kids Camp – the day-long football clinic which he was in the middle of – was all about, Phelps found himself searching for answers.
In a sea of more than a dozen NFL players, all of whom had one-word positive affirmations across the backs of their t-shirts, the 8-year-old Phelps suddenly uncoiled like a snake ready to strike.
“It’s about being a leader,” Phelps said with a smile. “It’s about believing you can do anything you set your mind to.”
Karney, too far off in the distance to hear Phelps’ words, sports an ear-to-ear grin as he bounces between stations, talking with kids, who vary in age between 8 and 16 years old. Because if there’s anything Karney hopes the kids absorb from the camp, now in its second year, it’s not football.
It’s a few life lessons.
“There’s a lot more to the camp than football,” said the high-energy Karney, a 1999 Kentwood High graduate who now plays for the St. Louis Rams. “Our biggest goal is getting a message through to these kids to start thinking about their lives and having a plan. How we attack that is through motivational words like hard work, character, honesty, patience, perseverance.
“We want them to understand, football is not the most important thing, but understanding what these words mean and applying them in life is.”
The camp, which took place last Saturday at French Field, drew more than 200 kids from around the Valley. Campers came from as far away as Bonney Lake and Puyallup and received plenty more than a few gridiron tidbits to use on the field.
“The words on the back of the coaches’ shirts are telling us we can do anything we set our minds to,” said 9-year-old Jacob Moore.
The camp was almost as much of a homecoming for many of the coaches as it was a teaching tool. Karney enlisted 16 current and former NFL players to take part in the one-day event, along with more than a dozen local junior high and high school coaches. Included among the staff were former Kentwood High and NFL players Ernie Conwell and Richard Thomas. Former Kentwood coach Tom Ingles and current Conk coach Rex Norris also lent a hand.
The camp proved to be the perfect opportunity to give back to the Kent community, Conwell said.
“We both recognize that this is where we built our roots and got our foundation, our love of athletics,” said Conwell, who spent 11 years in the NFL, playing for both the St. Louis Rams and New Orleans Saints and who now lives in Brentwood, Tenn. “We know that we couldn’t have done all this without the support of our community. We both grew up playing on this field … it brings back some great memories.”
While the camp proved to be a sort of homecoming for Karney and Conwell, the vast majority of the volunteer-only coaching staff came from well outside of Washington state.
Karney didn’t have to twist any arms, either.
“I got a phone call from Mike and an e-mail to come out and participate in this youth camp and all I needed to know was what time and where,” said David Fulcher, who lives in Cincinnati and spent eight years in the NFL as a defensive back. “It’s not what I get out of it. It’s what the kids get out of it that’s important. That’s what makes (the decision to come out to Kent) easy. We all once were kids.”
Floyd Fields, who played defensive back for the San Diego Chargers from 1991-1993, agreed.
“To be able to use our status as professional athletes to positively influence the kids … you can’t beat that,” Fields said.
But as much as the kids were able to glean from the camp, parents also were given the opportunity to take part during a mid-clinic question-and-answer segment. The discussion included proper training and nutrition for today’s youth, along with harder-hitting queries in regards to steroid use among professional athletes.
“I always try and draw upon my own experiences,” Karney said. “I want the parents and the kids to know, you can do it the right way. You can do it the clean way with clean work.”
Judging from the response of 8-year-old Camden, the kids were all ears.
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