LIHU‘E — A huge crowd of more than 700 participants in The HerbieGives All Position Football Camp 2024 welcomed home Nate and Nick Herbig of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday.
Nate and Nick got help from fellow Steelers members, college and high school players they played with, and local high school and community football coaches in leading the camps that were broken down into two catergories. There were the elementary campers, whose concentration was on various skill position skills, and the high school-age campers, whose concentration was geared for combine skills enhancements.
Newly announced coach for St. Louis High School football coach Tupu Alualu was among the named eyebrow raisers, along with Mike Lafaele, Jon Runyon, Isaac Seumalu, Donald Stewart, Joey Porter Jr., Keeanu Bention and Jayden DeLaura.
Marcus Mariota of the Philadelphia Eagles dropped in for a surprise visit and was able to interact with the campers under the watchful eye of the Kaua‘i High School media group that provided stills and video for media coverage and report purposes for HerbieGives.
Camp emcee Matt Taba was a coach for Papalina Basketball when both Nate and Nick were players for the community basketball league whose home base was the Kalaheo Neighborhood Center.
“Believe, and anything is possible,” Mariota told the group of football campers that honed their respective football skills at Vidinha Stadium where repairs to the track had just been completed in time for the upcoming Kaua‘i Interscholastic Federation track and field season.
The football camp was considered a success with hopes of extending the camp for upcoming sessions made possible with the support of the Kaua‘i Economic Development Board, the County of Kaua‘i, the Rotary Clubs of Kaua‘i, the Kaua‘i Police Department, the East Kaua‘i Lions Club, Kaua‘i Youth Football and many others.
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
