Youth Leadership: Where Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers See Eye-to-Eye

Can the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers agree on anything?  Maybe not on the field.

Chicago Bears Youth Football Camp Leadership Award Winners
acknowledged at Soldier Field

But off the field, both teams connect on a special mission.    

Both the Bears and Packers go to great lengths identify, train and salute young leaders discovered within their summer youth football camps.

Each team gives just two Leadership Awards out per youth camp location.  With less than three percent of all campers winning the award, this is a very prestigious honor.


With 27 camp locations, the Chicago Bears identified 54 leaders from over 1600 participants.
With 10 camp locations, the Green Bay Packers identified 20 leaders from over 700 participants.
Both teams apply the following criteria when choosing a Leadership Award Winners.

1. Leaders play the game with passion and go full speed for every drill.   

2. Leaders initiate.  They see what needs to be done and get it done without having to be asked.

3. Leaders are hungry for knowledge and listen to the coaches.  No, they are not asking questions every 30 seconds.   Instead, they absorb the message and act on it.

4. Leaders take learn from and take ownership in their mistakes. 

5. Leaders don’t finger point, blame or make fun of others.  Instead, they are protective of others, show belief in others and encourage them to keep trying. 

In many ways, these Leadership Award Winners are the antidote to bullies.  

Green Bay Packers Youth Football Camp Leadership Award Winners
acknowledged at Lambeau Field

When a child comes home as a Leadership Award Winner, we are certain that nothing makes a parent happier. 
Beyond football skills, leadership is an awesome life skill to possess.  The world needs leaders and a youth football camp is a great platform for developing those skills.  

And despite the “competitive football animosity,” the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers are definitely on the same page for this subject.  

For Football Skills, Life Skills and Fun,

Tom Finks
Executive Director
Pro Sports Experience, LLC

http://www.prosportsexperience.com/

Jim Finks Opened the Door for 5000 Kids

Jim Finks

This week, Bristol and Lynden Presss, a small publisher focused on the history of Chicago sports and pop culture, highlighted the anniversary of Jim Finks joining the Chicago Bears as General Manager. 

Jim Finks:  Just What the Doctor Ordered

We would like to add something.

Well after his death, the good relationships he created in the NFL opened doors for me and my company Pro Sports Experience. 

While we have to prove our worth every day, we are proud to represent and manage youth football camps on behalf of the Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.  And we acknowledge that his relationships gave us the opportunity to pitch our program and be in this business.

Last year, we operated 80 non-contact camps in six states.  Nearly 5,000 kids attended our camps.  Each participant learned football skills, life skills and had a blast playing the world's greatest team sport.  We made an important, positive impact on many young lives--he would be most proud of that accomplishment.

Jim Finks' philosophy is part of everything we do.   During the good times, we are going to "keep an even keel." During the tough times, we will just "keep sawing wood."

It's great to remember the week he took on the challenge of rebuilding the Chicago Bears. 

As he signed most of his letters or notes...

"Peace,"

Tom Finks
Executive Director
Pro Sports Experience, LLC

“I Won’t Cheat!” --A Little League Life Skill Campaign that Scores.

Bears Youth Camp running back

Our youth football camp coaches constantly state, “Don’t cheat yourself!”  We say it before camp, during camp and at the final whistle.

What do they mean?

*Come mentally and physically prepared to get the most out of the camp day.

*Get enough sleep before the day.

*Eat a proper breakfast.

*Think about what you want to accomplish.
*Leave your problems behind and enjoy the moment.

*Run out every play and give a 100% effort.

*Do things the right way.

Talk about a simple sports lesson that translates to true life skills!  Consider NCAA football team violations, baseball players using steroids, golfer Tiger Woods, skater Tonya Harding and sprinter Ben Johnson.    Then consider any coworkers, friends and family members that cheat their way through life.   They take shortcuts, sandbag and use smoke and mirrors.  But everyone knows the difference.

It makes me think everyone should be required to play team sports while growing up.  It’s the best platform for learning how to compete with integrity.  Note:  I said “team sports” as I believe the environment is much more conducive to competitive integrity than most individual sports (golf excluded).  

While many more cheat without getting caught, I suspect that every perpetrator big and small has significant regrets and would do things much differently if given the chance.   We all make mistakes and fall to temptations of easy success and quick adoration.   Nobody is completely innocent. 

Pro Sports Experience tips its cap to Little League Baseball and their “I Won’t Cheat” jersey patch campaign.  It’s a sharp message that is a more valuable takeaway than football skills or baseball skills. 

More on the Subject

Little League’s Simple Pledge to a Better Future

15 Greatest Sports Cheats of All Time

Tom Finks

Pro Sports Experience, LLC

Pro Sports Experience is the official management company of Chicago Bears, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles Youth Football Camps.  

Youth Football Camps Score on Mother Nature

New York Giants Youth Football Camps

You can’t beat Mother Nature. But Pro Sports Experience Youth Football Camps were able to score lots of points against her and her repressive heat this summer.

 “We plan for situations like this.” says Tom Finks, Executive Director for four NFL teams and their Youth Football Camp initiatives. “We acquire full service facilities so we can operate indoors and keep the kids safe. We hire highly qualified staff, including a Certified Athletic Trainer for each camp. And most important, we change the program so we operate safely but the kids still have a productive football experience.”

Finks concedes that it is tougher to have a wildly successful camp under such conditions. “No question that everyone gets fatigued a little faster. But the kids and parents have been great. They understand that our program must be altered and they appreciate the measures we take.”

Instruction and football competition were front-loaded in the “cooler” morning hours. Interactive class room games such as Eat Like a Pro, The Franchise, Chief Scout and Playmaker were huge hits and kept the kids engaged and cool.

“If we did play football in the afternoon, it was brief and hydration breaks were taken every 5 to 10 minutes,” say Finks. “We had hoses and sprinklers going and the kids loved it. We still had to cut things short and take water breaks because sometimes the kids don’t know when to stop.”

The hot weather also gives coaches a great teaching platform. While they would prefer cooler weather, it becomes much easier to teach the kids about hydration when it’s so easy to break a sweat.
“Hydration becomes part of the conversation. They go home talking about the importance,” says Finks. “It’s something they will always remember and a good life lesson.”

Recently, the American Society of Pediatrics developed new guidelines to protect children from the oppressive heat wave that has overtaken much of the United States.

Chicago Bears Youth Football Camps, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles Youth Football Camps are managed by Pro Sports Experience of Chicago, IL. Learn more about these camps at http://www.prosportsexperience.com/