Leadership skills to youth players

On the same day the NFL lockout ended and Lions players were starting to make their way to Allen Park for the official start of training camp, one former Lion already was in action at Ford Field.
Ron Rice, a Lion throughout his six-year NFL career, spoke with about 200 kids from the Think Detroit PAL football league during a clinic held by the Mid-American Conference and Ford Field, along with the NCAA Youth Initiative. At the clinic, his talk focused on education.
"Without education you can't really do much," Rice said. "If you are going to go out here and hold down some type of career, you need an educational foundation that will support that. A lot of these kids are students of the DPS system that doesn't necessarily have the greatest reputation. It can be discouraging, but they need to know that what they are doing is important and matters."
Eastern Michigan football coach Ron English said the atmosphere of playing at Ford Field could show a kid the importance of school.
"For the young kids to be able to do it here in this great facility, where the professionals play and to see a bunch of college coaches and the cameras and those things, I think it can motivate a young kid to learn to do well in school and have success so he can play college football," English said.
Though he excelled at football while growing up, Rice's parents still stressed education.
"I wanted to follow in (my Dad's) footsteps," Rice said, who graduated from EMU with a degree in criminal justice, just like his father. "Obviously my career path took me elsewhere, but that was my goal growing up. Both of my parents were big in education and showed that based on the schools that they sent me to. And it was emphasized at the dinner table."
Coach Leamon Jones and his team, the West Side Steelers, participated Monday. He says he has stressed education to his players.
"On my team, we not only teach these guys football, but we're also teaching life lessons," said Jones of Detroit. "We're teaching them how to be young men in the community. That is very important to us. We take education very seriously and ... I know events like these are definitely going to be positive and affect them later in life."
Rice also talked to the children about leadership.
"Developing leadership skills is something most of us should have," he said. "When you put yourself in the position of being a leader, you are able to be a leader and present yourself as someone who is dependable and someone who doesn't follow. You have so many different influences growing up as a kid, and a lot of times a leader makes decisions based on calculated information. That is one of the things about being a leader -- setting your own program and your own agenda."
Education and leadership aside, the players at the clinic are seeking to improve their football skills.
"I want to learn how to run the ball and know all the plays," said Larry Gordy, 10, of Detroit. "My team's already great, so this will make us even better."
Fellow Detroiter Jorden Marks, 11, dreams of playing for the New Orleans Saints.
While the challenge to have the perfect combination of grades, leadership ability and talent needed to make it to the NFL is big, Marks said that won't stop him.