On Tuesday, hundreds of local boys and girls were treated to a special day of football and fun at an NFL PLAY 60 Character Camp hosted by the Chargers at Santa Ana Stadium.
Put on by the league along with Hall of Fame offensive tackle Anthony Muñoz and the Muñoz Foundation, the mission of the camp is to make a positive impact on the youth through teaching football skills, emphasizing the importance of getting 60 minutes of physical activity a day. It also reinforces the importance of positive character in athletics and life and is part of the NFL and Chargers' year-round Hispanic outreach initiative.
"We want them to learn a little bit about football, but we also want them to focus on staying active and the (character) message," Muñoz said. "We want them to have good character and make good decisions. A lot of these kids have never been to a football camp or exposed to football, so it's a lot about bringing this generation into the fold as fans."
"It's an awesome blessing to these kids (to be out here)," mentioned Hayes Pullard, who joined Muñoz. "This is the next generation. I get to give my knowledge from what I was taught from someone else to them."
Pullard was joined by local youth and high school football coaches joined to help the campers through drills and share what the importance of having good character means.
"Character is in pretty much everything you do," Pullard added. "It's in your education; it starts in the classroom. Your mentors, your parents, those are the people you have to treat with respect because you want the same thing. You want it to come full-circle when (you're older)."
This camp marks the seventh for the Bolts on the Character Camp circuit with Muñoz hosting the first one with the team in 2012.
"As a former player, I love collaborating and working with other teams," Muñoz said. "It means a lot that seven years ago we started this on a blue turf field with the Chargers, and here we are today."
For the 7th straight year, the Chargers partnered with Pro Football Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz to bring a Play60 Character Camp for hundreds of local youth to the team's market.
The Chargers' 2018 training camp schedule is official, so mark your calendars to watch the Bolts prepare for the upcoming season! The team will hold 14 practices open to the public between July 28 and August 23. For more information, please visit **www.chargers.com/camp**.
