June is National Dairy Month, and on Tuesday, June 22nd the Jacksonville Jaguars along with Winn-Dixie and its Dairy Partners played host to more than 100 kids at ALLTEL Stadium for the "June Dairy Month Youth Skills Camp."
All 21 Jaguars rookies plus a couple of veteran players were on hand to teach some of the fundamental skills and basics of football.
"It was just great for us and the little kids to help coach them and have them do the little drills… hopefully it will get them ready for little league football, junior high and high school," said offensive tackle Sean Bubin.
Third round pick running back Greg Jones said, "I think it was good for the players to be able to relax and just be with the kids."
Registration was at 11:30am with camp starting at noon and opening comments from Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver.
"You young folks are in for an experience out on our practice fields with our players," Weaver said in welcoming the group. "I encourage you to pay close attention to our players. You'll get some great pointers about football, but ask some of these guys about life skills…enjoy the day and take full advantage of it."
Four stations were set up on the artificial football turf on the practice fields with five to six players at each station. The children were divided into four groups, and rotated every 15 minutes from one station to the next station
Once camp concluded, the children ate lunch and were given ice cream and other snacks along with a free t-shirt and a goody bag to take home. The rookies took this time to sign autographs and interact even more with the children.
"I'm always willing to go out there and play with the little kids; I'm just a big kid at heart…it was just a fun experience," said cornerback Byron Parker
Linebacker Daryl Smith said, "I never really had the chance to work with kids before in a camp, and I'm looking forward to doing it again."
"It was different," said wide receiver Matt Cherry. "I never really had anything like that growing up as a kid in Chicago; I never had a chance to interact with the Bears players, so it was cool getting out there showing the little kids some drills."
"The camp we had for kids was real nice," said cornerback Chris Thompson. "…it was a real good experience for us and for the kids."