Cardinals T Bridges holds camp of his own at NAU

Cardinals tackle Jeremy Bridges is used to holding football camps down in Phoenix, Ariz., but he recently added another camp to his resume.

Bridges, along with various members of the Cardinals staff, recently held a football camp for 200 kids at the Walkup Skydome on the campus of Northern Arizona University.

Bridges took control of the camp shortly after Deuce Lutui departed for the Seahawks last season.

“It’s just good fun to come out and get the kids active and watch them move around and have fun,” Bridges said.

The camp was made up of a good mix of kids age-wise, and Bridges and company worked them hard.

The kids went through their initial stretches and warmup drills, then it was on to the meat and potatoes stations.

Among others, there was a passing station set up, in which the kids had to throw footballs through holes that were strategically placed at different heights.

Another station – manned by Bridges – saw the kids run some agility drills, with the losing team having to do 20 push-ups a piece.

This was no cookie cutter camp by any stretch of the imagination, because Bridges was looking to get the best out of the young people and teach them a life lesson at the same time.

“Work ethic,” Bridges said. “It’s going to be important, not only in sports, but in life as well, that if you want something bad enough, you’re going to have to work for it.”

Bridges says the youth of today are “falling behind” and are “lazy,” and he just wants them to get some kind of daily exercise, so they can stay healthy.

“The NFL 60 [Play 60] minute thing is one of the greatest things in the world to get the kids out and play for an hour a day, just to keep them active,” Bridges said.

Bridges got into football at a young age, playing with his friends in their neighborhood.

He remembers how much fun it was to get out with his buddies and play “full-blown tackle with no pads.”

Bridges is just trying to bring that level of fun to this generation of young kids, and let them know that it’s not all about Xbox, Playstation and iPads, but that there is fun to be had besides holding a controller for hours a day.