AliJah

Advice from NFL stars rings loud and clear at camp

Contributed by: Sam Adams on 6/12/2006

By AliJah Jackson

This past Memorial Day weekend NFL players Daniel Graham and LenDale White flew back into Denver to help coach 134 youths at the first annual Athletics and Beyond football clinic held at Montbello High School.

Coaches Herman White Sr. and Herman White Jr., along with Arena Football League player Darcey Levy (Columbus Destroyers) led in drills and helped to facilitate the camp.

Three Montbello High graduates -- University of Wyoming assistant coach Harvey Patton, Las Vegas Mojave High coach Billy Polk and Ollie Williams also helped with the clinic.

Youths from the Arapahoe Youth League, Aurora Youth League, Denver Police Athletic League and a Pop Warner program from Kansas participated in football drills.The highlight of the clinic for participants, parents and coaches was when Graham showed his NFL Super Bowl rings.

Levy showed his Arena Football League championship ring from the 2005 Colorado Crush, and Ollie Williams and Billy Polk put their 1990 national championship rings from the University of Colorado on display.

Torrie Wellington from Under Armour was on hand during the life skills portion of the clinic to talk about her career beyond the playing field and introduced the new line of Under Armour cleats along with some promotional gifts to all of the participants.

When asked if the goals and objectives of the A&B clinic were accomplished, organizers said yes, that "fundamentals were taught in a structured environment that allowed for interaction with many different coaches -- all with various backgrounds and concepts.We were able to squeeze life skills in along with athletics and that is what our program is all about."

For more information about future A&B clinics and workshops go to the Web site www.athleticsandbeyond.com.

http://denver.yourhub.com/Story.aspx?contentid=94155

• Administrative support/bookkeeper for Athletics & Beyond.
• Goodwill Summer College Prep Boot Camp at the University of Denver.
• Attended SAT and ACT preparation at Montbello high school.
• 2006 and 2007 Keynote speaker for National Grandparents day September 9, 2005 at the Denver Police Department Building, District #2.
• Offers prayers and blessings annually at Dr. Martin L. King Jr. day celebrations for seniors.
• At the age of 13 he wrote his own business plan and ran his own business for the summer of 2005.
• AliJah has helped assist photograph and film 2003 Colorado Pan African Best Short Film Award/2007 Sundance Short Film “Path Altered.'
• He has also assisted in the Cinema Channels monthly top title program 'Dimension X' as a videographer.
• Chef at the 2002 Colorado Men Who Cook Annual Fundraiser.
• He has had several articles published in the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Denver Weekly News and Green Valley Ranch Community news letter.
• He has played football (3 yrs), baseball (4 years), track (2 years), wrestling (4 years) and just started playing golf as well as martial arts training.
• He plans on going to Florida A&M upon graduation.