Several parents and grandparents who accompanied their youngsters to Ben’s Football Camp this past week sent emails with their observations. Here are just a few:


As we headed north out of Virginia for Pittsburgh, we really had no idea what to expect out of Big Ben’s football camp. We had never been to any camp like that, but our eleven year old son Jack and eight year old daughter Hannah were very excited to actually see Ben and play on the same field. When we got there, the first thing we noticed as parents was how well the camp was run. Imagine being tasked with making sure 500 kids have a fun, safe adventure for 3 ½ hours on two different days in the summer heat of June! They pulled it off in spades. From the combine-style drills and 7 on 7 games, to the awards and guest appearances of other Steelers like Coach Tomlin, Brett Keisel, Trai Essex, Willie Colon, and Emmanuel Sanders, they kept things moving along.

“Ben was obviously having a great time with the kids. He was running around cheering them on and jumping into games. The amazing thing was that he threw a pass to every single kid at the camp – nearly 500 passes. I was thinking that if he throws an average of 30 passes in each regular season game, that would be about 480 passes for the season. He threw more than that in a half hour at the camp. Our kids caught both of their passes from Ben and by the end of the two days they were tired but very happy we came.

“Finally, about an hour after everybody else had left the field and gone home, Ben came out of one of the field offices. He had been interviewing with a television crew. I am sure he was exhausted and his arm had to be killing him, but he graciously came over and signed a couple of footballs for the kids and posed for a picture. It was the last of over 500 pictures we took at the camp, but we think it was the best.

“We will definitely be back next year. Of course […]

Cindy Dupray and Anita Doddroe took their cameras along to capture the action as their children and grandchildren participated in The 2011 Ben Roethlisberger Football Camp at Seneca Valley High School in Harmony, PA this week.


From Anita today:

“The Ben Roethlisberger Football Camp was a great success! It was wonderful! The kids all had a great time. My grandsons loved it and can’t wait to go back! Ben was wonderful with the kids…such an encouraging person! I had to laugh at one point when Ben was playing with some of the younger campers during a 7 on 7 drill. All the kids were yelling “Ben, Ben, Ben” wanting him to throw them the ball. They reminded me of little baby birds all trying to get the mother bird to feed them! What a hoot!

“What a great surprise, also, to have so many Steelers come to the camp during both days! We had Emmanuel Sanders, Trai Essex, Willie Colon, Charlie Batch, Mike Tomlin, Tyler Grisham and Brett Keisel! They all joined in either speaking to the kids or participating in the drill sessions and 7 on 7 games. I can’t believe camp time has come and gone but the kids have great memories now!”


You can see both Anita’s and Cindy’s photos here (three pages of ’em).


*Ladies, thank you so much!



More from Ben’s Camp:

– Photos from WPXI, “Ben Roethlisberger Hosts Football Camp for 500 Kids”

– Article/Video from KDKA-Channel 2, “Ben Roethlisberger Talks Football Camp, NFL Lockout”

– Video from the Cranberry Patch, “Girls and Boys Swarm to Roethlisberger’s Football Camp”

– Video from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, “Ben Roethlisberger talks at camp”

From Mike Bires, Beaver County Times:

Lobbing hundreds of passes to kids doesn’t prove Ben Roethlisberger is ready for training camp.

But the star quarterback says he and the rest of the Steelers’ offense are staying in shape even as the NFL lockout stretches into its 15th week.

“I work out every day and we’ve gotten together as an offense quite a few times,” Roethlisberger said Tuesday at his foundation’s football camp held at Seneca Valley High School. “It was good. We got in some quality work.”

Roethlisberger’s right arm got plenty of work the past two days at the camp he’s hosted in recent years. As Tuesday’s session drew to an end, every boy and girl in attendance got one last chance to catch a pass from Roethlisberger…


You can read more here.

From ESPN’s AFC North Blogger James Walker this afternoon:

In February we explained that three Super Bowls victories for starting quarterbacks leads to automatic enshrinement into the Hall of Fame. The only quarterbacks in that class are Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, Troy Aikman and Tom Brady. Three are in Canton and one — Brady — will be a first-ballot Hall of Famer five years after he retires.

Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers nearly joined that elite group but came up one scoring drive short in Super Bowl XLV, losing 31-25 to the Green Bay Packers. Now he’s stuck at two rings.

So what does this mean for Roethlisberger’s Hall of Fame chances? It means he still has some winning to do.

Roethlisberger’s 10-3 record in the postseason speaks volumes. His .769 winning percentage in the playoffs surpasses both Brady (.737) and Manning (.473). Roethlisberger also compares favorably with Hall of Fame inductees of the past 10 years in key areas such as passer rating (92.5), completion percentage (63.1) and yards per attempt (8.0)…


You can read more here.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette‘s Ray Fittipaldo caught up with Ben at his Football Camp yesterday:

Roethlisberger was joined at his youth camp by Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner and several teammates, including offensive linemen Willie Colon and Trai Essex, receiver Emmanuel Sanders and reserve quarterback Charlie Batch.

This is the fifth year that Roethlisberger has played host to a football camp for youths.

“I want to be an influence on these kids,” Roethlisberger said. “I want to see the smile on their faces when they catch a pass or high five them when they catch a touchdown. I’m sweating more than they are running from field to field. To me, it’s so awesome to have this opportunity. Even if you teach them one little thing, or any little thing that makes them smile, that’s what it’s all about.”


You can read the rest here.


You can see photos from the Football Camp, compliments of Cindy Dupray, here.


*Thank you Cindy!

Ben took time during his football camp today to talk to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Ray Fittipaldo.

From the interview:

When asked about keeping quiet about his workouts with teammates during the lockout, Ben said, “That’s kind of how I am. To me, it’s not about letting the world know we’re doing it. As long as we know we’re doing and we’re doing it, that’s all that matters.That’s just how we operate and how I operate. I’ve gotten some letters from people, I’ve heard some things like ‘Why aren’t you working out?’ Well, we are working out. We’ve probably worked out more than most teams. It’s just that we choose to keep it quiet.”


You can watch video of his interview here.


Ben also spoke to KDKA-Channel 2 this afternoon. You can read about it here.



Tomorrow:

– Mr. Fittipaldo will have his full interview with Ben on the Post-Gazette’s Sports page.

– Ben will be interviewed by DVE‘s Mike Prisuta at his camp. You can keep updated with Mike on Twitter here.



Also:

If your child attended the camp and you would like to share your stories and photos with the website, just send an email: bigben7website@gmail.com!