Community
Development

With temperatures scorching on field at INVESCO Saturday afternoon, there was still plenty of energetic spirit in the youth football community.

For the second straight year, the Broncos worked with USA Football to present the USA Football Coaching Clinic to an audience of nearly 200 youth football coaches from around the state — double the attendance of last year. Eager coaches from as far south as Pueblo started their morning over continental breakfast and X’s and O’s . . . .and more importanly, learning how to engage the young, spirited minds of 8yr olds who dream of playing on the big stage. Much time was spent on managing the parent relationships in youth football as well . . . .that can be a full time job!!

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Last Tuesday, I headed out to Hinkley High School in Aurora to meet WR Brandon Marshall and S Hamza Abdullah who were coming to speak to the youth football players attending the NFL’s Junior Player Development Camp. The 150 youth football players, ages 12-14 and representing schools all over East Denver, were attending the camp for free. The camp provides all of the kids’ equipment and is coached by local volunteer coaches who receive special NFL training prior to the camp.

As I drove east towards the school from INVESCO Field at Mile High, the weather grew worse. The clouds had darkened and sure enough, as soon as I pulled up to the school–the downpour came. Brandon, Hamza and I made a mad dash to the football stadium and tried to stay dry under the shelter of the bleachers. The plan had been to have Brandon and Hamza participate in the camp by assisting with various drills. Obviously, we were going to need a new plan — I just hoped that Brandon and Hamza would be up for sticking it out regardless of the nasty weather.

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Last week we had our quarterly Denver Broncos Youth Football Task Force meeting. Comprised of youth football league representatives from around the metro Denver area gather with the Broncos’ community development and marketing departments to discuss current youth football issues and initiatives. It was immediately clear from our meeting’s agenda that we have a busy summer of youth football upon us.

We just wrapped up the NFL High School Player Development Camp at Legacy High School where WR Domenik Hixon and WR Brian Clark stopped by to lend their expertise. A luck group of 12 youngsters (representing Montbello, Lincoln and Legacy High Schools) from this camp were selected to travel to the NFL-sponsored 7-on-7 football tournament in Houston, Texas in early July. Good luck to our Broncos team!!

In addition, we have a NFL Junior Player Development Camp this week at Hinkley High School in Aurora (WR Brandon Marshall and S Hamza Abdullah are planning on visiting) and two the following week at both East and Lincoln High Schools in Denver. We wrap up our NFL JPD camps in July with a camp in Broomfield.

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Yesterday was the 13th Annual Mike Shanahan Golf Classic at the beautiful Omni Interlocken Golf Course in Broomfield. Over 50 players and 15 coaches were in attendance to enjoy a round of golf and support a great cause very close to the heart of our team. All of the proceeds from this year’s tournament will be utilized as a start-up grant for the Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center — a much needed expansion of the Denver Broncos Boys and Girls Club.

The Boys and Girls Club teens (including TiTi previously mentioned in an earlier blog by Cindy) that initiated the conversations to build the teen center and have remained integrally involved in the process greeted golfers at the tournament proudly wearing “Darrent Williams Memorial Teen Center” t-shirts with the number “27″ displayed on the backs.

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