Special needs students and local high school football players are on the field, practicing and learning side-by-side. It’s the first of what is planned to be an annual “PlaymakersFootball Camp” at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
About 200 students with disabilities from 12 northeast Ohio school districts, and players from six Stark County high school football teams, are experiencing the game…and more…together on the practice field next to Tom Benson Stadium.
The program is about “bringing together our students from the community who have special needs, getting them onto a football field, letting them go out and have a little fun," says Mike Myers, the hall of Fame's youth and education programs coordinator. "And, also the local high school football players who will be out coaching and providing that positive reinforcement is going to hopefully drive home that to them (that) ... football is more than how to pass and catch; its teaching them about life.”
This year’s participating high school teams are from Canton Central Catholic, Jackson, Louisville, Massillon, McKinley nd St. Thomas Aquinas.
