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Titans fullback Casey Cramer and former teammate Ingle Martin, now a quarterback with the Kansas City Chiefs, recently held a three-day camp for area youth at The Refuge Center in Franklin, TN.
"The Refuge at Cool Springs does exactly what I wish I had when I was a little kid. It pours into lives and souls at a young age and gives them the tools and the armor that we need to have to survive this world, stressed Cramer. "Kids get exposed to so many things that are not good for them and for us to be able to pour into them and teach them ways to avoid those pitfalls that we've had is amazing."
Approximately 150 youth attended the "Casey Cramer and Ingle Martin NFL Youth Camp" on each of the three days. In addition to football drills that saw children get one-on-one attention and encouragement, they also added a new piece to the camp. Cramer, along with several of his current and former Titans teammates spoke about character and faith, created skits that focused on bullying, making the right choices, taking care of your body and having good study habits. All of the professional football players gave testimonials on various experiences that led to them becoming NFL players and different trials and tribulations they encountered on the way.
"To have all of my teammates come out, it was awesome," said Cramer. "To see the guys supporting these kids was just unbelievable. They all have full workouts each day during the week and for them to come out and spend hours in the heat again really shows how much they love these kids and how much making an impact means to them."
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Guest speakers and football drill coaches included Titans Special Teams Coach Alan Lowry; Cramer's Titans teammates Colin Allred, Ken Amato, Pete Clifford, Tuff Harris, Matthew Mulligan and Craig Stevens. Joining camp co-host Ingle Martin was Chris Sanders, a former member of the Titans who has remained very active in the community since his playing days which included him winning the Titans Community Man of the Year.
"We wanted to show the children that Titans of course are football players but more importantly, they're men of faith," said Martin, who attended Montgomery Bell High School in Nashville and twice was named the Titans Mr. Football Award winner as the top high school player in Tennessee.
"Being able to teach them about integrity and about doing the right thing when no one is watching was just some of the things we were teaching them."
After the three full days of camps, Cramer believed it was time well spent that the kids, "who made me feel like I was 10 again" and that the topics and scenarios covered were not only beneficial to the children but to him and his teammates as well.
"I think I've learned way more from these kids than what they learned from us and to me, that's a good camp," said Cramer.
