Steelers' Tomlin conducting affordable football camp
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Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin gives instructions for a running drill at his football camp at Brashear High School in Beechview Thursday.
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When Steelers coach Mike Tomlin was growing up in Newport News, Va., his family did not have the money to send him to football camps. Tomlin earned a scholarship to William & Mary without benefit of any coaching beyond what he received in high school.
Now that he is a head coach in the NFL, Tomlin is giving 225 youths this week the opportunity to attend a football camp for free at Brashear High School.
Tomlin is playing host to a two-day camp for boys and girls ages 7-14, where the children can rub elbows with the Steelers coach and learn about football.
"All of our corporate sponsors underwrite the entire camp," Tomlin said Thursday morning in a break at the practice. "It's free for every kid out there. We take finances out of it. I was a kid who had some tough financial situations growing up and probably would have not have been able to pay for a camp. These kids are getting the same amenities that kids get when they go to a pay camp."
The camp was not open to the general public. Most of the youths in attendance live in urban areas and don't have the ability to pay hundreds of dollars to attend other football camps where expert instruction is given.
"Hopefully, it's inspiring," Tomlin said. "That's my intention. I wasn't afforded opportunities like this when I was a young fellow. That's probably one of the primary reasons I do camps such as these, so these kids know that I'm a regular guy just like their dads or uncles, that I'm not an alien, that I come from somewhere, that I like hanging out with the little ones and encouraging them.
"More importantly, letting them know that they're capable of chasing their dreams and have the opportunity to live their dreams, like I live mine every day."
Tomlin cannot do much at his day job these days. The NFL lockout is in its third month with little indication it will end soon. Tomlin said earlier this spring that a protracted lockout would benefit the Steelers because they have veteran players and veteran coaching that knows how to approach offseason work without constant supervision.
First Published June 17, 2011 12:00 am
