Gosder Cherilus, a standout football player at Boston College who played for nine seasons in the National Football League will, with the support of his foundation, be hosting his eighth free football camp for children at Moakley Field in South Boston on Sat., July 15. The one-day program, which has widened its scope from earlier ventures, will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m, with lunch included.
“Hopefully we can reach out to as many kids as possible and give back to as many of them as possible,” he said in an interview with the Reporter. The camp, he added, is aimed at providing an opportunity for productive activity for some 300 underserved and underprivileged kids ages 6 to 13 from the Boston-area community. Previously, the camp was held in Somerville at a smaller venue for approximately 120 kids.
Cherilus, a Somerville native who now lives in Boston, has planned a day of fun and foundational football drills with the help of current and retired NFL players, including Logan Mankins, Dwayne Allen, Stephen Tulloch, and Joe Hawley. Each of the coach-volunteers will lead a session of drills based on the fundamentals of their respective football positions. As to what he hopes to achieve with the camp, Cherilus said, “It’s a one day camp and they’re young; we’re going to try to give them a lot, and we don’t expect them to master it all that day. But, if they can go home with just one thing that we taught them and can take it to their coaches and football teams in the fall and help them out, then that’s a win.”
Beyond the football fundamentals, Cherilus wants to inspire kids to go after their opportunities not only on the field, but also in the classroom. “It’s all about opportunity,” he said. “If you find a way to put yourself in the right position by doing the right thing, I think you have a chance to take it far. Growing up around here, it’s not always the easiest, but if you have your mind right, your goals right, and you understand what it’s like not to give up, I think you can be pretty successful.”
Even before retiring from the NFL, Cherilus has been focused on giving back to the communities that he has been a part of. He founded the Gosder Cherilus Foundation in 2009 hoping to use it to “Find A Need. Fill A Void.” Speaking about his larger plans for the foundation’s other endeavors, he said, “We want to do as much as we can here in the city. After the football camp, I would like to establish a pen-pal program between student athletes in the Boston area where we can pair some of our kids from the camp or from some of the schools around here. They can write back-and-forth; it could be two or three letters a month, and hopefully at the end of the year we could have a big party where they get to meet each other.” He added: “My foundation also does a lot of work in Haiti. We’re in the process of building a clinic and we have latrine projects that we can hopefully get going in the next three-to-six months.”
Football gave Cherilus the opportunity to shine, and to make it beyond his own difficult circumstances: “I grew up around here and I had a chance to be around some very great individuals. Most of them came from sports. Sports gave me a chance to showcase my talent and it was also a way out. It taught me discipline, it gave me a home. That’s where I found my peace of mind. Some of my best friends I met playing football. It boxed me into all the things I needed to take myself, my life, my career to the next level. It’s one of those things where if you go through football successfully, you will apply those same skills to anything else in life. We want to teach the kids life and football fundamentals, because those two things go hand in hand.”
In many ways, Cherilus imagines himself in the projects he and his foundation are developing. Whether giving back to communities in Haiti or creating opportunities for mentorship for Boston students, Gosder wants to help provide a way out for kids who remind him of himself when he was their age. “By the end of the day,” he says, “I want to send the message that ‘Hey, I’ve got the same background and if I can find a way out, then so can you. With my foundation, a lot of times we reach out to kids and the first time they tell us, ‘No, we don’t want it.’ And that doesn’t mean they don’t want it; they just don’t want you to be just another person; they may not have a lot, but they’re extremely prideful and a lot of them are street kids. And we want them to understand that we’re here to help.”
