Former South Carolina star to hold free Myrtle Beach football camp with larger mission
Former University of South Carolina star running back Marcus Lattimore once struggled emotionally with the knee injuries that cost him a promising NFL career.
But now that he is in a happy place when it comes to the health of his mind, body and spirit, he wants to share how that can be achieved with others.
So his fourth annual free Grand Strand First Choice Fit Marcus Lattimore Youth Football Camp from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday includes a lot more than football instruction.
The camp for boys and girls ages 5-12, which takes place at Grand Park Athletic Complex on Crabtree Lane in Market Common, will also include a free health fair and health screening for the campers and anyone else in the community.
The camp features instruction on diet and popular exercises for children as well as agility and speed drills.
“We all know the challenges we face here in the state of South Carolina when it comes to heart disease and childhood obesity,” Lattimore said. “We decided to do ages 5 to 12 because I think everybody knows the brain is its most malleable and able to create habits that stick with you for the rest of your life at that age.”
The camp is sponsored by The Xtra Inch and First Choice by Select Health of South Carolina, which conducts the free screenings.
Lattimore is the community health spokesperson for Select Health and has worked with it for five years.
“Our whole mission is to promote a healthy diet, exercising and going to get your well visit, a doctor’s visit,” Lattimore said. “I was a public health major so this is something that interests me a lot, it’s one thing that I’m passionate about.”
Lattimore, 27, tries to conduct one clinic per year in the Palmetto State’s areas of the Upstate, Midlands, Lowcountry and Strand. Upcoming additional camps will be held in Spartanburg on May 4 and Columbia on May 11.
His full-time job is being the director of player development at USC, which entails assisting the school’s student-athletes with off-field activities and issues, including things such as time management, networking and job placement.
“When you play a game your whole life you kind of confuse it with who you are, not realizing that the sport I played was just something I did, and it’s a game,” Lattimore said. “When I had that injury I could not see that. I felt it was the end of the world, but as time goes on, because time is our greatest teacher, you gain a lot more perspective and you’re able to share those experiences with the guys who are walking in your shoes when you were here. So you empathize with all of the student-athletes and understand there is a lot more to life than football.
“It has worked out pretty well for me.”
First Choice by Select Health of South Carolina has helped children in the state stay healthy for more than 20 years, and has tried to make fitness fun with its First Choice Fit program since 2013.
Advance registration is required by Friday for the camp and will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Each camp is limited to 125 participants to ensure a quality experience.
First Choice plan members can call 1-888-676-9588 to register and others can register at www.marcuslattimore.com.
Campers will receive some of the lessons from Lattimore’s life experiences that the Gamecocks’ athletes receive.
“All of our guys think they’re going to the NFL but the reality is that it just doesn’t happen [often],” Lattimore said. “So you have to have other skills. You have to have life skills, social skills to be able to survive and thrive in your career outside of the sport that you played. That’s the area that I help in, and also trying to instill good values.”
This story was originally published April 11, 2019 at 9:31 PM.
