'Bear Heroes' Teach Kids Football Fundamentals

Kris Haines walked into the Bears Youth Football Camp at Reavis High School ready to teach.

While watching kids go through a football-themed obstacle course, the former Bear wide receiver was quick to point out some things the campers–who ranged from 4 to 12 years old–were doing wrong, and other things they were doing right.

“See how they’re carrying the ball there, a lot of it has to do with the balls are a lot bigger than they are right now, but they’re not doing it properly,” Haines said. “You’ve got to correct that, and it’s not too hard to do.”

Haines was the second former Bears player to stop in at the Burbank/Oak Lawn week-long youth football camp. Jim Morrissey turned out on Wednesday to talk with the 30-plus campers and show them through some drills.

“The biggest thing to teach them is the life skills, developing good habits, preparation,” said Haines, who is a middle-school teacher in the suburban Chicago area.

The Bears Youth Football Camps focus on the fundamentals of football, emphasizing proper techniques in all aspects of the game. Campers do not use shoulder pads or helmets, but do get their share of contact with tackling dummies, blocking pads and two-hand touch scrimmages.

Jason Hendry, an assistant football coach at Proviso West, is in his second year as a director at the camps–which run at various locations throughout the metropolitan area--but has worked at them for the last seven summers.

“The most important thing is not necessarily football but getting them out of the house,” Hendry said. “Kids can never leave their house with TV and video games. This is about getting them active.”

Hendry and a couple of other coaches, who help out during the five days of camp, teach kids everything from the proper way to knock down passes as a cornerback to blocking as an offensive lineman. They design drills and create fun games, like the obstacle course, to reinforce what they teach.

But sometimes it just takes a professional athlete to get the kids' attention. Haines played at Notre Dame before hooking on with the Bears.

“They’re all looking at (Haines), they’re all engaged,” said Hendry while Haines ran a drill with a dozen kids. “Sometimes when we’re doing a drill, they might talk too much, but they’re all engaged in the drill when they have the ex-Bears there.”

Not every kid in camp has played or will participate in organized football. But for those who do, Haines thinks that even taking away a small amount of knowledge from this camp will help them down the line.

“Take one thing out of these camps each day and that’s five things,” Haines said. “If they remember those five things, when they’re older, they’re going to be ahead of the game.”

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