On May 13, Sound Mind Sound Body founded by Curtis Blackwell hosted the second annual Historical Black College University football and cheer camp at King. High school phenoms for cheer and football in Detroit were given the chance to showcase their talent in front of multiple HBCU coaches.
“The camp was a good experience while being taught some of the best advice of performing my flips or tumbles better by the colleges’ coaches and also explaining to us that college cheer is different from high school cheer,” cheerleader and junior Le’Airah Taylor said.
Sound Mind Sound Body hosted the second annual HBCU football and cheer camp at King on May 13. Photo by Crusaders' Chronicle.
Athletes want to make a name for themselves and this was another platform to do just that. After watching the high school athletes workout and compete, some students received optimistic news that included athletic offers and interest from the coaches that were present at the camp. It’s rare that athletes get this chance in front of coaches due to a lot of issues mainly COVID.
“Well, first thing I’m from Detroit; I went to Cass Tech," said Thomas Sims, a defensive coordinator for University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. " ... Also, I’ve been coaching for over 25 years with very talented kids from Detroit and it’s going to be a pleasure getting to see the athletes succeed in every source and way of life."
The camp was created to help high school athletes get recruited for college. The camp had students from grades 9-12. The event started at 9 a.m. and started with an assembly with different university advisers telling the athletes about their schools. The players were then able to speak with the different HBCU coaches that attended then break into groups based on their positions. They then started doing their workouts.
“This camp is showing me a lot, teaching me a lot, showing me the college process in getting recruited,” junior cornerback Teon Parks said.
