NORFOLK, Va. (WTKR) — Don Carey wishes he'd been told more about the realities of life after football growing up in Norfolk.
"The stats say you'll play football for two and a half years if you make it to the NFL," he said. Carey played 10 years in the NFL, mostly with Detroit. "That means guys are going to be 23 years old looking for a new career."
For more than a decade, he's fought to help with that. Along with his REECH Foundation, Carey hosting his STEAM Day and Youth Football Camp on Saturday at Norfolk State.
At Dick Price Stadium, Carey and numerous coaches giving 250 students plenty to learn from on the field before helping them get introduced to multiple facets of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics industries.
"The football is the hook but once you start doing the virtual reality, augmented reality, robots things of that nature, it's exciting," he said.
Now that I'm out here an experiencing it for myself, it's something that people should think about more," said Kahlil Clark, a participant from Oscar Smith.
Like many of the players there on Saturday, Clark has focused most of his life on his skills on the turf. He says it helps him to have days where football is intertwined with learning away from the game.
"It's a lot of opportunities you can take whether it be entrepreneurship, chemistry, whatever you like," Clark said. "Out here you learn that it takes not just skill to be a football player, but humility."
Quinesha Leonard, one of the volunteer coaches, emphasized traits like that before her tackle drills on the turf.
"You have injuries, we have family issues," she said. "Sports isn't always there but you still have to live your life. You still have to find your passion."
Carey, a Chesapeake City Council member, seeing firsthand how his vision is opening minds of youth in his hometown.
"We always have to extend the inside activities because they're having so much fun," he said.
Whether they're being taught about how to fly up the field or how to fly a drone inside, the group of students getting a well-rounded education to embrace every passion in their life.
"Have some good old fashion fun on the football field but I also hope that there are seeds of STEM planted in their mind that will sprout into something great later," Carey said.
