Summer Football Camps In Laie Welcome Parents

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BYU-Hawaii Game Plan participants gather for a team
photo. Photo by Daniel Hwang

Aspiring college athletes have until May 18 to apply for football camps and other clinics from July 5 to 7 at BYU-Hawaii, which aim to prepare students for college success on and off the field.

“There are four programs in three days, and each program we set and target different groups of people,” explained Asai Gilman, Education-1st executive director. The program features UH football coach June Jones and some 25 coaches from junior college to NCAA Division 1 schools.

Besides athletic skills training, “all the educational workshops from leadership workshops, health and nutrition to academic preparation, knowledge workshops are delivered by experts in their field,” Gilman said.“NCAA coaches are delivering this information ... we bring these people to the campus so parents can come and ask questions. That’s really the unique advantage.”

Sharing eight years of NFL experience will be Seattle Seahawks’ Itula Mili, who returns for the second year. The Kahuku graduate will headline the Itula Mili Junior Football Clinic July 5 for incoming fourth- to eighth-graders. The half-day clinic offers mentoring by NFL and college football coaches and players, tips to earning a college degree, and fundamental football skills and techniques.

Like all camps, the clinic will emphasize the importance of balancing academic and athletic success to achieve the end goal - earning a college degree. “We’re trying to create the leadership skills too, in an indirect way,” Gilman said.

The Education-1st program, now in its fourth year of a federal grant, has had 500 students and parents pass through its program, he said.

Its newest venue is the one-day Game Plan Freshmen Academy offering college advising and guidance, mentoring by college athletes and coaches, coaching on speed and strength training, and learning leadership skills and mental discipline through sports psychology.

For incoming sophomores, juniors and seniors there are two three-day, two-night residential programs to choose from: Game Plan Academy and Game Plan Football Camp. Both offer SAT preparation courses, NCAA Clearinghouse, financial aid and scholarship information and skills training.

“They do classes in the evening, and during the day they learn football and fundamental skills by the college coaches that are there,” Gilman said. “And as far as I know this is the only camp in the nation that does (this).”

Education-1st also will host a July 3 benefit golf tournament to raise money for next year’s programs. Sports figures like Jones, Weber State University coach Ron McBride and Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow will be paired with three other golfers for tourney play.

For more information, call program director Eli Kapu at 293-7700 or 391-2039. To apply online, go to www.edu-1st.org