Ricky Belmonte, left, does a cheer with the Valley Christian High School cheerleaders, Stanford football player Richard Sherman and other participants of the Football Camp for the Stars Friday.
Ricky Belmonte wasn't alone as he grinned ear-to-ear in the hot mid-day sun Friday.
Standing on the crisp turf of Valley Christian High School's football field, which is situated on the top of a hill in San Jose that surveys the entire Silicon Valley in a panoramic view, Belmonte, along with almost 30 other athletes with Down syndrome, looked like he was standing on top of the world.
And for two days all of the campers were, as several current and former NFL players took turns showing those attending the Second Annual Football Camp for the Stars the nuances of the game of football. Once those skills were taught, the tables were turned as campers practiced taking hand-offs before scampering past hulkish pro players into the end zone for touchdowns.
Belmonte proved to be an especially quick learner as he extended a stiff arm to keep a defender at bay before crossing the goal line.
Former San Francisco 49er Dana Stubblefield, currently an assistant coach for Valley's high school football team, said the camp was important because of how rare an opportunity it is for those with Down syndrome to have events designed specifically for them in mind.
"Me and (Valley) head coach Mike Machado, he's worked with Down syndrome kids, I've worked with Special Olympics for 12 years, so we decided to do something that's not even being done," Stubblefield said. "It's not about us, it's not about the school, it's not about recognition - it's about these guys right here, letting them get the experience of being out on the football field."
After having only a dozen athletes at last year's camp, word spread enough to make the event "three times what it was last year," according to Machado.
In addition to doing drills, campers and their families were treated to dinner by Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott at Hayes Mansion Friday evening before the second day of camp, Saturday, featured a scrimmage.
With athletes coming from as far away as Fresno for the event, Machado has hopes that other areas will pick up on the idea.
"That's what I'm hoping," he said. "What I'm really hoping is somebody, somewhere, some high school schmuck like me, will look into his district and find an STC program or special-ed program, and tap into it and offer something like this for those kids."
"It's hard because they don't have anything available in South County," said Sandy Belmonte, Ricky's mother. "So when I found out about something like this in San Jose, I got right on it."
The move paid off as Ricky said the camp was "a lot" of fun. So much so that he invited the players and coaches, which included former Niners coach Steve Mariucci, back to his house for a pool party. After not being allowed to wrestle with the Gilroy Hawks youth wrestling club because of his age, Ricky is 25-years-old, the event was a nice break from his busy work schedule at a vocational services facility in Hollister.
At the end of the camp, each athlete was given photos of themselves over the course of the two-day event, as well as a plaque.
"It was so much fun," Sandy Belmonte said. "They really went all out."
Josh Koehn Josh Koehn is a sports writer for South Valley Newspapers. He can be reached at jkoehn@svnewspapers.com.
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