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Lessons go beyond football
By RICKY TREON
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
STAR-TELEGRAM/RON JENKINS
Kids work out with parachutes at Camp LT, NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson's football camp at TCU on Tuesday.
On a field just outside the Justin Athletic Center on TCU's campus, a football coach yells out the first half of a phrase the camp directors hope to ingrain in the children's minds.
"Hard work."
Then, in unison, 250 fourth- through 12th-graders finish the sentence.
"Pays off."
The kids, along with 86 kindergarten through first-graders, were doing calisthenics at the second annual Camp LT at TCU on Tuesday.
The camp, a three-day event featuring NFL MVP and former Horned Frogs star http://www.star-telegram.com/329/story/150490.html#, grew significantly from last year's 130 or so campers.
The camp is so popular this year that, like in San Diego and Waco, a limit was put on the amount of kids they could accept.
"It's exciting. This was kind of a trial period for us here," Tomlinson said. "There was a time with this camp when we didn't know if we were going to get 25 kids out here."
This year's heightened interest, which Tomlinson's business manager Lamar Andrews said came mostly from "word-of-mouth," has Tomlinson thinking about expanding the camp to include more kids.
That would suit Tomlinson just fine.
Camp LT is just part of what Tomlinson is doing to help children in Fort Worth. Tomlinson will also be at a dedication ceremony for the new LT/VIZIO Educational Center at the Como Community Center today.
"When I was here [at TCU], I really enjoyed getting to know some of the kids in the community," Tomlinson said.
But Tomlinson feels he can reach out to those kids through Camp LT and give them direction as they mature.
"It's about teaching them the fundamentals of football," Tomlinson said.
"But more important than the fundamentals of , we try to teach them life skills."
And to Tomlinson, who is known for being a good guy off the field almost as much as he is for his on-field abilities, those lessons are much more important.
The camp ends this afternoon with Tomlinson handing out awards at a banquet with campers and their parents.
The trophies the campers get today might honor their on-field achievements during Camp LT, but Tomlinson hopes everything else they were told throughout their stay sticks with them the rest of their lives.
"They're going to get the football stuff, that's all a part of it," Tomlinson said. "Character, self-esteem, stuff that they need to know as they get older, that's what I would really like them to take away from it."
Along with the notion that "hard work pays off," which was written on their Camp LT shirts and, if the coaches did their job, permanently imprinted on their psyche, too.
Ricky Treon, 817-390-7760
rtreon@star-telegram.com
By RICKY TREON
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
STAR-TELEGRAM/RON JENKINS
Kids work out with parachutes at Camp LT, NFL MVP LaDainian Tomlinson's football camp at TCU on Tuesday.
On a field just outside the Justin Athletic Center on TCU's campus, a football coach yells out the first half of a phrase the camp directors hope to ingrain in the children's minds.
"Hard work."
Then, in unison, 250 fourth- through 12th-graders finish the sentence.
"Pays off."
The kids, along with 86 kindergarten through first-graders, were doing calisthenics at the second annual Camp LT at TCU on Tuesday.
The camp, a three-day event featuring NFL MVP and former Horned Frogs star http://www.star-telegram.com/329/story/150490.html#, grew significantly from last year's 130 or so campers.
The camp is so popular this year that, like in San Diego and Waco, a limit was put on the amount of kids they could accept.
"It's exciting. This was kind of a trial period for us here," Tomlinson said. "There was a time with this camp when we didn't know if we were going to get 25 kids out here."
This year's heightened interest, which Tomlinson's business manager Lamar Andrews said came mostly from "word-of-mouth," has Tomlinson thinking about expanding the camp to include more kids.
That would suit Tomlinson just fine.
Camp LT is just part of what Tomlinson is doing to help children in Fort Worth. Tomlinson will also be at a dedication ceremony for the new LT/VIZIO Educational Center at the Como Community Center today.
"When I was here [at TCU], I really enjoyed getting to know some of the kids in the community," Tomlinson said.
But Tomlinson feels he can reach out to those kids through Camp LT and give them direction as they mature.
"It's about teaching them the fundamentals of football," Tomlinson said.
"But more important than the fundamentals of , we try to teach them life skills."
And to Tomlinson, who is known for being a good guy off the field almost as much as he is for his on-field abilities, those lessons are much more important.
The camp ends this afternoon with Tomlinson handing out awards at a banquet with campers and their parents.
The trophies the campers get today might honor their on-field achievements during Camp LT, but Tomlinson hopes everything else they were told throughout their stay sticks with them the rest of their lives.
"They're going to get the football stuff, that's all a part of it," Tomlinson said. "Character, self-esteem, stuff that they need to know as they get older, that's what I would really like them to take away from it."
Along with the notion that "hard work pays off," which was written on their Camp LT shirts and, if the coaches did their job, permanently imprinted on their psyche, too.
Ricky Treon, 817-390-7760
rtreon@star-telegram.com
