For the third straight year, the Chicago Bears and the NFL partnered with Hall of Fame offensive tackle Anthony Muñoz and the Muñoz Agency to host an NFL Play 60 Character Camp.
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The introductory level camp took place on June 24th at the Walter Payton Center at Halas Hall and hosted approximately 300 boys and girls between the ages of 9 and 13. With the mission of making a positive impact on the lives of the youth, the camp was targeted towards Hispanic youth as well as kids who have never played football before. Campers from Zion, Gurnee, Chicago's Little Village and West Side and other surrounding neighborhoods learned new skills and drills as well as the importance of character throughout sports and life.
Bears RB Senorise Perry and LB Brandon Dunn became coaches for the day and helped instruct the campers through a series of instructional activities. Bears alumni Anthony Adams joined in on the fun and challenged the campers to a friendly competition during various routes, passes and races.
NFL PLAY 60 Character Camps focus on key character traits such as reliability, honor and integrity. Anthony Adams spoke to the campers about sportsmanship and the impact of positive values: "Not everyone will have the chance to play in the NFL but whether you're playing sports or you're out in the real world, every single one of you can make a difference by carrying these character traits with you."
At the end of the 3 hours, coaches selected three campers who helped their teammates, kept a positive attitude and demonstrated sportsmanship for the MVP award - not for the most valuable player, but rather the most valuable person. Every camp participant received a football with a bilingual tag that gave them access to instructional videos in Spanish and English on the NFL kids' site, NFLRUSH.com.
The NFL Play 60 Character Camp in Lake Forest was the 2nd in a series of camps that will take place this summer. Since its inception in 2012, the program has partnered with USA Football and its NFL FLAG curriculum, which demonstrates basic skills to kids in a non-contact setting. In addition to character values, the camp also reinforces importance of healthy eating and 60 minutes of physical activity every day through the NFL PLAY 60 campaign.
Now in its fourth year, NFL PLAY 60 Character Camps have hosted 40 camps, impacting more than 13,000 youth across the country.
