Packers.com
August 8, 2012
LDRSHIP. An acronym, derived from the word “leadership”, used by the Wisconsin National Guard that stands for: loyalty, duty, respect, sacrifice, honor, integrity and personal service.
Those were the values conveyed at the first Annual NFL High School Player Development Leadership Program hosted at Lambeau Field on July 19, 2012. While LDRSHIP defines Wisconsin National Guard soldiers, those same qualities are the makeup of great NFL football players, Master Sargeant Jeremy Martinson said to those in attendance.
That’s why 54 high school athletes from across Wisconsin gathered to listen to Packers Hall-of-Famer Johnnie Gray and NFL alumni and current Vice President of Player Engagement Troy Vincent as they spoke about non-athletic-related essentials to succeeding in the NFL.
“It’s never been just about football,” Vincent said. “It’s so much more than that. It’s academics, it’s leadership and it’s accountability. There is so much more than athletic ability that factors into having great success in the NFL and in life.”
Those other factors were on display as athletes, hand selected to attend the session by their coaches, participated in a community service project and completed National Guard leadership and teamwork activities during the day.
The students stuffed bags with school supplies and other essentials and packed them into boxes to be given to various organizations that work with elementary school-aged children, including the Outagamie County Mentoring Program, the Salvation Army in Marinette, the Sheboygan County Boys and Girls Club, the Fond du Lac School District and the Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay.
After that, they went outside with National Guard members to refine their teamwork and leadership abilities through a series of leadership exercises used by the National Guard for their own training purposes.
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