After holding a successful football camp for youth and moms at the Columbus Air Force Base July 28, a Kokomo native has plans to bring the event to Marion County with the help of a Super Bowl champion.
West Marion graduate Anthony Mitchell Jr., who played for former head coach Perry Coggin, teamed up with former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Eric Matthews to assist the families of the armed services.
“We saw earlier in the year with the 155th and the state guys deployed overseas that we wanted to do something strictly for the military community to help alleviate some of the pressure for the kids and wives who are experiencing deployments with their husbands. A couple weeks ago we hosted the camp at the Air Force base as a way to give back to the military,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell, who lives in Tupelo and is a quality assurance technician for Duro-Last Roofing and avionics technician with the Air National Guard, said the organization he works with, 4:13 Strong, hopes to bring the free camp to Columbia in late May or early June. However, the camp is far from just about improving on the gridiron.
“Even though we use football as a tool because everybody in the South loves football, we use it as a ploy to get the kids in, but we use it to teach life skills like being the right person and being around the right environment,” he said. “We like to find out some of the issues that might be native to that community, whether it be drugs or bullying, and address that.”
4:13 Strong is rooted from Philippians: 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” and Mitchell linked it with Matthews.
“What we’ve done over the past five years is a bunch of community events from back-to-school to job and career placement opportunities. From there we met some of (Matthews’) family who liked what we were doing and just made the connection,” Mitchell said. “Eric had been wanting to come to Mississippi and do some things, and they just didn’t know anybody that could do it. Once they saw what we were doing it was just an instant connection.”
Mitchell added the camp is all inclusive with 4:13 Strong’s partners.
“We have a financial literacy package that we usually roll out for the kids as well due to some of the partnerships we have with Marvel Comics and Visa Practical Money Skills for kids,” he said. “We use football with the kids, but we also open it up to the moms as well. We let them come in and run drills, have fun and sweat. We usually culminate the day with an empowerment message for the kids.”
The overall goal of the camp is that empowerment for the children.
“We want the kids to know anything you set your mind to, you can do it because God will give you the strength,” Mitchell said.
Pictured Above: Anthony Mitchell Jr., right, poses with former Green Bay Packers receiver Eric Matthews in Columbus July 28. Mitchell, a Kokomo native who now lives in Tupelo, hopes to bring a football camp to Marion County next May or June. | Photo Submitted
