Father Ryan Hosts Vince Young Camp

A great day, great lessons, and great insight were all served up yesterday at Father Ryan High School. The Vince Young Foundation in partnership with Father Ryan High School and its football staff hosted a camp for over 300 young kids from across the Nashville area.

It was a great day set up for a ton of fun. As the day began the players were gathered in the gymnasium in order to begin stretching. After players were put through a stretch routine the excitement began to pick up. Players were broken up into groups by age and sent outside to the football fields in order to perform in various drills.

The drills began with the players running through the same giant inflatable Titans helmet used by the Titans themselves. The drills were put on by a group of high school coaches from around the area and also stations from D1 Athletic Training Group. Players made their way through agility ladders, catching drills, passing drills, defensive back drills, tackling technique, and blocking techniques to name a few. The campers were well hydrated and taken care of by sponsors from Powerade and Vitamin Water.

Many of the campers spent the morning looking over their shoulder to see if Tennessee Titans quarterback Vince Young had shown up yet. Around the lunch break the man showed up and was very impressive. He went to one of the older groups and worked with the quarterbacks on some of their skills. He even took some time to throw some routes to some of the receivers.

As the afternoon sun began to kick the camp headed indoors for lunch. The campers were all taken care of by the staff with a lunch and cool gymnasium to have their meal. After all the campers had eaten it was time to hear Young’s message.

Young picked up the microphone and talked to the kids about making the right decisions in life. He talked about his childhood, rough neighborhood, and even gang fights in his life. Young went on to say as a young boy he can remember asking God to come into his life and to help him achieve. In conclusion he asked if there were any kids in the audience who were being led down the road of gang violence. As a hands began to fly in the air from some very young campers Young quickly told them it wasn’t too late to stop and be somebody better. A message well delivered by Young and well received by all.

After a fun filled day of football lessons and life lessons it was time for some fun. Several of Young’s teammates from the Titans made an appearance and were available for autographs. Every camper stayed around and had an opportunity to meet the Titans, including Young, and get an autograph. As players made their way through the autograph line they were given a special Vince Young bag filled with goodies.

High school players from around the area were on staff to help with the drills. There were players from Father Ryan High School, Wilson Central High School, Montgomery Bell Academy, and Warren County High School. Wilson Central senior Jarvis Jenkins said of Young, “It was good and it was good for the younger kids. The main thing I liked is how we got in the gym and Vince told them about his life. He used to act up and he told them about one day how he asked God to help him make a decision on how to live.”