Football for Dummies Camp honors child

LEANDER (KXAN) - It was a happy spring day and Josh Mann, head football coach at the new Rouse High School in  Leander ISD, and his wife, Brandi, were celebrating their oldest son Jace's sixth birthday. Jace's little brother, Judson, 4, and many other members of the extended family were there for the party, as well.

The telephone rang and the boys' great-grandfather answered. It was news from Newton, Kan., outside Wichita. Nineteen-month-old Vincent Hill, Brandi's second cousin, was in a local hospital and not breathing.

Shock spread through the family. Then confusion, anger, sadness, even hate took their turns as the family learned the boy had died, the victim of the worst child abuse case the local district attorney had ever seen.

Authorities said Vincent had been thoroughly beaten, tortured and suffocated. His mother, Katheryn Nycole Dale, 20, was charged in connection with the death along with her boyfriend, Chad Daniel Carr, 26.

"I had to find a positive," Brandi Mann said, "because I got angry about it and I got upset and then I thought, well, you know, 'I've got to give this up. It happened; let's find something positive about it.'"

The Manns knew exactly what to do. For two years running, they had reached out to the mothers of the young men playing football for Rouse, first with a small class about the game and the following year, an actual camp in which participants got to do some actual football drills. There was a lot to learn.

"It's an attempt to teach a little bit of it, the very basics, like what an offense and a defense is, because a lot of them don't know," Brandi Mann said. "They don't know what downs are and they don't know what even, you know, the kick off, what the purpose of some of that stuff."

Last year's "Football for Dummies Camp" attracted 60 women.

"They were so excited," Coach Mann said. "We thought we were going to take them outside; they're going to be out there maybe five minutes; it's going to be too hot; they're going to want to go back in. They could have stayed out there all day. They were laughing; they were giggling, but they were having fun and they were really trying to get the concept down."

There's more to the camp than just getting a bunch of women fired up about football.

"Especially in today's society," the coach said, "we're seeing more single family incomes, a lot of mothers who are, you know, supporting their sons and the dad is not in the picture or is not at home all the time. So the mom's more active than we see ever in their sons' lives. This gives them an opportunity to have something to relate with them, to have those conversations with them. After the camp, they have enough terminology and understanding that they can carry on a conversation with their son now and we've seen the gap kind of close over this year."

So a light bulb went off. The Manns, along with the assistant coaches and their wives, decided to turn over all of the registration fees for this year's camp to the Austin Children's Center in memory of Vincent Hill.

"Maybe through this little football camp," Coach Mann said, "we're going to have fun; we're going to learn some football; we're going to have fun with the moms, but also bring some awareness amongst our coaches and our family here at Rouse. Hopefully that will spread and maybe reach some more people. Maybe that awareness will help prevent one of these cases."

The " Football for Dummies Camp " is planned for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Rouse High School, 1501 County Road 271, just east of Leander. Last minute participants are welcome and a registration form can be downloaded from Brandi Mann's Internet blog .