JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – For more than 250 kids from age 5 to 18 attending Charles James & Tony Carter's football skills camp Saturday, there were more than a dozen current and former NFL players to teach the campers how to get better at the game.
However, they were also taught so much more.
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The former Mandarin High School stars James and Carter brought their skills camp back to their alma mater again this year, teaching NFL-level skills on and off the field.
"To learn from these guys, to be able to pick their brain about anything, mental or physical is huge," said Texans cornerback and Mandarin High grad Charles James. "Just to see smiles on their faces and them enjoying themselves is big for me."
James' fellow Mandarin High alum Tony Carter understands his reach as a veteran and Super Bowl Champion in the NFL. However, he says he doesn't need to reach very far to make a difference.
"We are not out here just to teach football or anything like that. We are out here to teach life lessons, so if we can reach one or two kids with what's going on in our communities today, that would be great," said Carter who currently is on the New Orleans Saints roster.
Carter says reaching those kids is only half of the battle. The other half is inside of each and every one of them, meaning if they believe in themselves, they can accomplish anything.
"That's the one message, believe in yourself. If they can take one thing away from this it would to be believe in yourself. My grandmother taught me to believe in myself and do things the right way and I feel like doing that is how I got to success," said Carter.
The former Florida State Seminole told the kids in attendance that he was very close to not even trying to make football his goal. He tried out for the football team at Mandarin his freshman year and was cut on the first day. "I was five foot six and weighed 120 pounds," said Carter. "They wanted nothing to do with me."
However, he told a coach at the time that he was serious about making the team and the coach "called my bluff" and took Carter to every football camp the two of them could attend that summer. When school started in the fall, Carter made the team and has not looked back since. All because he says he believed in himself when nobody else did.
"We are just here to give back because we didn't have this when I was a kid. Also to do it at my high school where I made a name for myself, it is very special to me."