Though Foothill’s main campus sits quietly amidst our calm summer session, the football field has been witness to a great deal of liveliness and action. The Foothill Owls Football team is hard at work, training away in preparation for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. While dedicated to said preparation, the team still took time to give back to their community.
Our football program partnered with the Santa Clara County Fire Department to put on the second annual “Buckle Up 4 Safety” camp, advertised as a combination of “football fundamentals with vital seat belt awareness.” On the morning of Saturday, July 20th, local families brought their 6-12 year olds to Foothill for this free youth football event.
Hosting the event and guiding the children were Head Football Coach and Adjunct Kinesiology Instructor Matt Raivio, Defense Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach Brandon Younger, and a number of players all volunteering their time.
According to Younger, the creation of this camp was a joint effort between coaches and players last year, starting as a conversation about wanting to give back to their community. The idea of hosting a youth camp was established, and the group wanted to find an important cause to support. Evidently, they settled on seatbelt safety–for quite the clever reason!
Young athletes practice their tackling form.
“It’s a double entendre,” says Younger, “because in football, they say when you’re playing really good defense it’s like ‘strappin’ up,’ and the players make a seatbelt kind of gesture. We thought it would be cool to marry that with seatbelt safety awareness and promote that.”
After solidifying this message, the football program reached out to the fire department, establishing a partnership and hosting the camp for the first time last year. It proved to be a success, with a turnout of around thirty kids, and has only grown since. This time, each of the fifty spots open were filled, and the camp will only expand in upcoming years.
On the field, kids ran different drills in groups as parents cheered from the sidelines and college players demonstrated skills, sharing words of encouragement. A great deal of high fives and smiles were exchanged, the team fostering a fun environment for both kids and adults alike.
This camp is an introduction to football for many of the participating kids; some college players saw their younger selves reflected back at them, remembering their similar formative experiences.
Wide Receiver Korey Bozovich stated, “When I was a kid this is the stuff I would do, and you always remember these types of things. It will stick with them that this is how they started playing football.”
Johnnie Barbie, also a Wide Receiver, remembered, “My introduction to football was pretty similar, I was around their age when I started playing… a camp right around the corner from my house.” Looking out at the little players he remarked, “These kids out here, they’re really having a good time. You give them the energy and they’ll give you the energy back.”
Watching intently from the sidelines was Tracy Raivio, head coach’s wife and mother of 8 y/o Reid, one of the enthusiastic participating kids. She cited her appreciation of the cause at hand, saying, “We love football, but when we can also tie it into safety… we love that message.”
Andrew Calderon, Uncle to a few kids present at the camp, had brought his nephews last year after hearing about it from the team’s social media (@/owlfootball). He mentioned his friendship with the coaches, echoing another parent’s comment that they do a great job of spreading the word about the camp within their local communities.
After a couple hours of football fun, the kids settled down, ready to listen to the four firemen who arrived with their firetruck. They explained basic seat belt safety rules, keeping kids engaged by asking them questions and urging them to share their experiences. The main source of excitement, however, was the tour of the firetruck. Kids gathered around to see the fire hoses, the jaws of life, and various other sections of the vehicle.
The kids were given stickers resembling firemen’s badges, which they happily stuck onto the free “Buckle Up 4 Safety” football camp shirts they were given. As the firemen left the scene in their truck, tooting their sirens a couple times for good measure, the young footballers eagerly approached the college players who had begun to sign these shirts.
The littles wore looks of admiration as they waited for signatures, impressed by the capabilities the college players had demonstrated throughout the camp.
More drills led by Owls players.
The team is back to their regular training, working harder than ever after a record-breaking season last year. According to Coach Raivio, after stepping up a league and now competing in the top division in Northern California, they will be facing a “lot more consistent and more difficult competition.”
Raivio has noble aspirations for his team, saying “Really what I look for is our culture to hold together and withstand more adversity. We’re gonna be put with a lot more challenges and it’s gonna reveal a lot of true character. So, win, lose, draw, I just hope our culture perseveres through it.”
In the upcoming season, Wide Receiver Johnnie Barbie hopes to “get our name as the Foothill Owls out there and show who we really are: show them why we won 11-0, show them what we can do in this new league.”
This fall, come out and show your support for the Foothill Owls Football team as they show the world who we are.
