Page 18 - atoday
P. 18
A18
SPORTSWednesday 2 March 2016
Jets’ Giacomini, Browns’ Barnidge bringing football overseas
DENNIS WASZAK Jr. In this Monday, Feb. 29, 2016 photo,AFWB Board Member Todd Buelow, left, Gary Barnidge of the Egypt, where Awadallah
AP Sports Writer Cleveland Browns, center, and Breno Giacomini of the New York Jets, third left, and a man pose was born and raised. He
NEW YORK (AP) — A spirited for a photograph at the Pyramids of Giza, in Cairo, Egypt. had a high school friend
brainstorming session over conducting basic football
some noodles, vegetables Associated Press drills there, but the political
and rice. turmoil in that country in
That’s how Breno Giaco- ground up,” Barnidge said. will have free camps — ba- their careers. 2013 steered the group to
mini and Gary Barnidge — “We don’t want to be a sic, junior and advanced Barnidge, selected for China instead.
a couple of ambitious NFL viewer. We don’t want levels — for players ages his first Pro Bowl, was the “There’s a lot more football
players intent on making a people just watching. We 14-25, as well as a coach- Browns’ winner of the Wal- in the world than people
difference beyond the field want people playing the ing clinic led by Giacomini. ter Payton Man of the Year think,” said Giacomini, the
— and their buddy Ahmed sport and enjoying it like we “The love of the game award this past season for son of Brazilian immigrants.
Awadallah came up with do.” is definitely spreading his work with AFWB. “In China, they started with
their mission to take Ameri- Giacomini and Barnidge throughout the world,” Gi- “Gary and I will be doing cone drills and now they’re
can football all over the will be joined at German acomini said, “and we’re this for a very long time,” up to maybe 15 padded
world. University in Cairo from trying to be contributors to the 30-year-old Giacomini teams. In Brazil, they started
“We kind of just sat down Wednesday through Sat- that wherever we go.” said. “This is part of Plan B on the beach and they’re
at P.F. Chang’s and started urday by 10 other NFL Barnidge and Giacomini after football.” up to like 45 padded teams
talking about what was players, including the re- were college teammates AFWB receives proposals now. Same thing with Istan-
going to be our next thing cently retired Marshawn at the University of Louis- every year from American bul.”
to help out the commu- Lynch, Pittsburgh running ville, and Awadallah, now football federations around The players teach the
nity,” Giacomini recalled back DeAngelo Williams, a senior engineer at Yum the world to have the campers techniques to
of that game-changing Houston offensive lineman Brands, was their classmate. camp held in their country. fine-tune their football skills.
dinner in Kentucky in 2011. Oday Aboushi and Miami All three enjoyed commu- The group sifts through the One of AFWB’s goals is to
“We didn’t know sitting at tight end Jordan Cameron. nity work while in school emails and discusses their get a player from another
that table that it was go- In conjunction with the and decided to take it to needs — hotels, security country on a football schol-
ing to get this big. Not even Egyptian Federation of the next level when they and buses to transport the arship in the United States.
close.” American Football, AFWB established themselves in players — and then votes “We almost had one kid
The impassioned idea de- on a site. from China get a D-III (op-
veloped into American Summer camps are also portunity), but he chose to
Football Without Barriers, a held in Malden, Massachu- go to Stanford instead for
nonprofit organization that setts, where Giacomini was academics,” Giacomini
educates disadvantaged raised, and Middleburg, said. “That’s like, ‘OK, you
children in the United Florida, where Barnidge win.’”
States and overseas about is from, and one is being Added Barnidge: “They
the sport. added this year in Louisville, don’t recruit for football
Next stop: Egypt. Kentucky. internationally. They do for
Giacomini, an offensive The original plan hatched basketball and baseball
lineman for the New York from that initial dinner and other sports, but they
Jets, and Barnidge, a tight meeting was to head to don’t for football.
end for the Cleveland We are trying to break that
Browns, are taking the field trend.”
in the Middle East this week But it isn’t just about the
for AFWB’s latest interna- sport for the NFL players.
tional trip after holding There’s a humanitarian as-
camps in China, Brazil and pect, too, with visits to or-
Turkey the previous three phanages and hospitals
years. while the players also learn
“We want to build from the about the cultures they’re
experiencing.
Last year in Istanbul, the
group put males and fe-
males on the same field
— something that doesn’t
happen often there, ac-
cording to Giacomini.
“The girls beat the boys in
a relay and that was awe-
some,” the offensive line-
man said. “They’ve never
seen that.
