After the sun broke through the clouds at Memorial Stadium, the energy, which was already high, seemed to rise with the temperatures.

The young campers of the MJ93 football camp and their professional and college coaches were having fun learning about football and, more importantly, life.

“The coaches are talking to the kids about more than just football,” Michael Johnson said. “They are talking about why it’s important to listen to your parents and making good grades. I just tip my hat off to them. They don’t have to be out here on this hot day, you have to be a man.”

Selma native Akeem Moore and current Alabama State lineman said it was important to teach the value of education to all of the campers.

“There is so much talent around Selma that never makes it out because of academics,” Moore said. “These campers out here are the future of Selma. It’s important to teach them good lessons.”

Selma High School standout, and current Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Ben Obomanu agreed.

“It’s just great to be able to come home and teach the future generation the value to a great education,” Obomanu said. “We didn’t have people to teach us, we had to learn for ourselves. Hopefully we can inspire these kids to act right and do even better than us.”

The camp, which featured two different sessions for younger and older children, had two different feels to them.

The morning was about having fun and teaching what the kids were willing to learn, Johnson said.

“You have to work at their level at this age,” Johnson said. “You have to realize their attention span isn’t as high as the older kids, so we do what we can, but really we are just trying to have a lot of fun.”

It’s the older campers that can get the real work in, even for the coaches who have had to workout on their own.

“The older kids are able to understand concepts a lot more,” Johnson said. “We are going to go through all the drills with them, but its tough. I’m even rusty from drills, so I’m out there getting better with them.”