For the second consecutive year, Robert Spillane, an Oak Park native and Fenwick alum (Class of 2014), is holding a free youth football camp at the Fenwick Priory in River Forest.
The event takes place on May 25.
The theme for this year’s camp is F.A.M.I.L.Y – Forget About Me, I Love You. Boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 14 are invited.
Registration begins at 10 a.m., followed by stretching and warmups from 10:30 to 10:45 a.m. Then Spillane, along with other counselors, will lead position drills, and a team competition will follow, ending at noon. At the conclusion of the camp, Spillane will be available to sign autographs.
Participants should bring football or soccer cleats, and hydration stations will be provided on-site. Parking is available in the Priory parking lot on Division as well as the lot in between the football and baseball fields.
For more information and to register, visit robertspillane.com.
Spillane is entering his seventh season in the National Football League and his second with the Las Vegas Raiders. An undrafted free agent who played collegiately at Western Michigan, he spent his rookie year with the Tennessee Titans, then four seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
One of Spillane’s favorite NFL moments took place in 2020 with the Steelers. In a game against the Baltimore Ravens, he intercepted Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson and went 33 yards for a touchdown. Spillane had met Jackson at the 2016 Heisman Trophy ceremony – an award Jackson won.
“After that game, I said, ‘Tell your mother I said hello’,” Spillane said. “I got to meet her at the ceremony and she was a sweetheart.”
Last season in Week 10, Spillane was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week as he registered seven tackles, a sack, and an interception in the Raiders’ 16-12 victory over the New York Jets.