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!!
Our crew moved on to the field after lunch and had a great, though very hot, afternoon of drills, putting the X’s and O’s into practice. Broncos starting fullback Kyle Johnson wrapped up the day with a spirited talk on how to motivate little guys on the field in the right way . . he reflected on his own youth football career, “…the smell of the grass the first time he suited up, the first walk in the cleats on field.” Many thanks to Kyle as all there really enjoyed his comments (by the way, this was just one of many stops in the community for Kyle this week after spending time in LA earlier for a piece on NFL Network where he taught a 1st grade class, then on to support a youth football camp mid-week and then ending with us . . . .kudos!).
Our day would not have been possible without Ed Passino and Darrel Hird from USA Football (Darrel brought his family out to help and they were all great!); Matt Shine from INVESCO Field, and some of our great Broncos Task Force members who taught some of the sessions: Wayne Voorhees who coaches at Legacy High School and Lance Vieira who leads the efforts of Arapahoe Youth League.
Looking forward to seeing how our efforts Saturday paid off as we gear up for the 4th Annual Broncos Bowl on August 11th here at INVESCO . . .let the games begin!!!!!
