Football camp to offer tips from ex-NFL players
Hundreds of local middle and high school students in June will have the opportunity to attend a football camp run by former National Football League players.
The Kiwanis Club of East Rialto and former NFL running back Greg Bell have teamed up to bring the camp and other football programs to the area in the coming months.
"We try to bring in the individuals they aspire to become," said Bell, a founder of the nonprofit foundation Athletes for Life that is also directing the camp.
More than 200 kids, ages 11 to 18, will be able to attend either the high school or junior camps June 22-25 at Cal State San Bernardino, where they will be housed and fed.
Though the camp costs about $125,000 to operate, children can attend for free because of donations from sponsors such as the Lewis Group, Gerald Beard Realty, San Bernardino County, Oakmont Industrial Group, Young Homes and Burrtec Waste Industries.
At the camp, Bell, who played for the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Raiders and the Buffalo Bills, said he hopes the young athletes will learn life skills, such as goal setting, perseverance, academic achievement and decision making.
Bell knows something about high-standards.
He ran for more than 1,000 yards three times in his career - once with the Bills and twice with the Rams.
Coaches from the University of Notre Dame and USC as well as 10 NFL veterans, including running back Tony Dorsett, formerly of the Dallas
Cowboys and Denver Broncos, will be at the camp.
In addition, Bell, 46, will take children ages 8 to 11 to the San Diego Chargers training camp.
He is also bringing the NFL's Punt, Pass & Kick competition to Rialto Park in August.
"He's just a good person just to know and just to see," said City Clerk Barbara McGee, who is a past president of the Kiwanis Club.
McGee met Bell at a fundraiser for Fontana's new library and did not take long to start prodding him to help local children.
Bell's work with children began in 1984, immediately after he was drafted by the Bills.
Bell was named by former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo a spokesman for an anti-drunken driving program in the state. In 1989, Bell started the foundation Athletes for Life.
Applications for the camp will soon be in schools in Rialto, Colton and San Bernardino.
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