More than 100 youngsters filled Tiger Memorial Stadium in Broken Arrow on Saturday morning for the fourth annual “Follow Your Dreams” youth football camp, a free event run by two former Broken Arrow standouts who came back to the place that helped shape them.
Maurion Horn, now a defensive back at Oklahoma State, said the day carried a special feeling being back at his old high school. “It’s a true blessing to come back here to Broken Arrow, the high school I played at, and see all these kids come out here, trying to do the extra stuff. Put their head down and grind,” he said.
Horn and Robert Spears-Jennings, now a safety with the Pittsburgh Steelers after starring at OU, host the camp as a way to give back to the community.
“That’s why I feel like God put me on this Earth to do, and that’s inspire and help others grow. So I feel like I’m just doing my job that God helped me to do,” Spears-Jennings said.
The camp gave kids three hours on the field with football players from around the area, and both hosts said one of the biggest rewards is watching familiar faces return and improve each year.
“Seeing them all grow from year-to-year, there’s been so much growth to those players. And I know they can tell,” Horn said.
“Just seeing it keep growing and growing, even the kids that keep coming back and seeing them grow up, it inspires me everyday,” Spears-Jennings added.
One of the new coach counselors this year was former Bishop Kelley standout Owen Heinecke, now an OU linebacker. Heinecke said the camp is as much about sharing a little knowledge as it is about letting the kids enjoy themselves.
“I remember when I was that age and just wanted to run around and have fun. There wasn’t a whole lot of technique involved, so if we can impart just a little bit of knowledge on them it’s a great day,” he said.
Heinecke also said the camp helps him get back into football mode before fall camp starts, while reinforcing the little things that matter.
“It’s just a good way to get back in the football mindset and start to reiterate, even for me, that the little details while I’m coaching these kids, it’s a good reminder that every rep’s got to be the best rep you have if you want to succeed come fall,” said Heinecke.
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