Randle’s ‘Achieve Dreams’ camp a success

Chris Randle spent three hours on Friday speaking to athletes at the Golden Valley High School. It left him without his voice on Saturday.

So speaking was a struggle at his first Achieve Dreams Youth Football Camp. Randle made up for his inability to talk with energy, enthusiasm and a nonstop positive attitude that made his camp a hit with the nearly 200 kids that attended on Saturday at Veterans Stadium at Golden Valley High.

Over 100 kids showed up for the 7-12 age group session in the morning and another 80 players attended the 13-17 age group session in the afternoon.

“Look at this. It’s crazy,” said Randle, during a break in the morning session. “It’s everything I wanted to see. All the smiles on their faces. The kids have brought the energy level up in us coaches. This is an indescribable feeling right now. Everything out here is positive. Everyone is on the same page. It’s an amazing turnout.”

Randle graduated from Golden Valley in 2007. He played football at Utah State for four years. After a brief stint with the Dallas Cowboys, Randle has played the past 6 years in the Canadian Football League.

Randle recruited some area coaches, former teammates at Utah State and Golden Valley, and high schools friends to help him with the camp.

“Chris called us when he first brainstormed this and we told him if you need anything let us know,” said former Merced High receiver Carter Todd, who played against Randle in high school. “We wanted to support him. This is awesome. It’s exciting. Now we have the momentum going. We want to keep this going each year. I’m proud Chris is the first one to do it.”

“I was honored that Chris asked me to help,” said current Arizona Cardinals running back Kerwynn Williams, who played with Randle at Utah State. “It was an opportunity to see his hometown and give back to his community. Chris has made big plays on the field and this is a chance to make big plays off the field. This is great for the kids to see someone from their hometown that has played in college, graduated college and played professionally.”

During the morning session, kids went from station to station going through different drills. They participated in drills that focused on agility and footwork and also got to be quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, offensive lineman, and defensive backs.

Kids even got to practice their touchdown celebrations at the receiver station. Kids were dancing, back flipping and dabbbing after catching touchdowns. It was a flag-free zone.

The campers also got to scrimmage and then ended the camp with a 40-yard dash challenge.

“My favorite part was throwing the ball,” said seven-year old Malachi Banhked, who is a first grader at Burbank Elementary, and asked the coaches if they could tackle kids during the scrimmage. “I actually do like practice.”

Randle enjoyed getting an opportunity to work with the kids.

“I don’t get to work with kids often,” Randle said. “It’s a learning experience. I know the fundamentals of the game and I can teach the fundamentals. The fundamentals aren’t always fun so I’m still learning from them, because I want them to have fun and still learn. It’s been a fun process.”

Growing up in Merced, it was important for Randle to come back and give back to his hometown. The camp was free for all of the kids. They all received shirts and were fed pizza. Many of the campers hung around to get autographs from Randle and some of the coaches.

“I never had anything like this,” Randle said. “I didn’t play football until I got into high school. Something like this, the kids can get so much out of it. We didn’t have this when I was a kid. A big shout out to all the coaches from the area who helped out. I couldn’t have asked for more support.”

This story was originally published May 6, 2017 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Randle’s ‘Achieve Dreams’ camp a success."