Senetra Weaver isn't just the wife of Philadelphia Eagles fullback Leonard Weaver or the mother of their three children. A gifted singer, she often is asked to perform at weddings, including that of Seattle Seahawks running back Justin Forsett.
"I said, 'Justin, I'll sing at your wedding as long as you come to a football camp for kids in Chattanooga,'" Senetra, a Chattanooga School for the Arts & Sciences graduate, said Saturday afternoon.
"I did and he did. Now we've just got to find a way to make this even bigger next year."
The Chattanooga Parks and Recreation Department has been trying to make its free football camp for local youth both bigger and better for more than 20 years with much help from such co-sponsors as Bi-Lo, Coca-Cola, Angels in Flight and Parkridge Valley Hospital.
Some summers have been better than others. This weekend's camp at Washington Hills Recreation Center drew nearly 150 kids total for the Friday and Saturday sessions.
But it was what those young people learned in the suffocating heat that should make Weaver, Forsett and all who gave so fully and freely of their time feel good this morning.
"The players talked a lot about how to act off the field," said 15-year-old Demetrius Williams of Red Bank High. "They talked about staying away from trouble off the field. They told us to study hard in school so if you're not talented enough to go to the NFL you have a solid career to fall back on."
Marquis Weeks was a running back talented enough to reach the NFL with both the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos but unable to hold a roster spot for more than a couple of years.
He now coaches running backs at Norristown High School outside of Philadelphia.
"I do a lot of these," said Weeks, who spent his fifth-year senior season at the University of Virginia in 2005 taking master's courses in education because he'd already graduated.
"The main thing is to show these kids that football is a part of your life, not all your life. Off the field is what counts. I think most kids understand that. But school doesn't come easy to a lot of them, while athletics does come easy. They lose focus. But as we told them today, you look around and you see more and more of these (high-profile) athletes getting into trouble and they don't get to live out their dreams anymore."
You didn't have to look far this weekend, what with an early-morning bar brawl in Knoxville on Friday threatening the careers of several Tennessee Volunteers and two Georgia Bulldogs arrested early Saturday morning on alcohol-related charges.
"We had 10 or 11 boys here ages 6 to 16," said Anthony Pollard, the youth director at Olivet Baptist Church. "I thought it was terrific, just all these professional athletes taking the time to teach leadership and teamwork to these kids. They'll remember this for the rest of their lives."
The event certainly made an impression on Dayton's Mart Travis, who brought his 18-year-old son Arty and best friend Aaron Daggett to the event.
"I watched the whole thing," the elder Travis said of the five-hour camp. "I was so impressed with the one-on-one interaction. It wasn't rushed. Every NFL player had a good attitude. They enjoyed being here, and it showed."
It certainly showed where Daggett was concerned.
"I'm going to major in youth ministry," said Daggett, who played center at Rhea County but will join the rugby team at Lee University this fall. "These are good Christian people. They really made an impact on me."
They also made an impact on Chattanooga city council member Russell Gilbert.
"These guys gave of their time and didn't charge a penny," said Gilbert, who noted that while lodging and food is provided to the players, they have to pay their transportation costs.
"You hear about all the bad things that pro athletes do, but this is a great thing."
To look across the recent athletic history of Chattanooga is to see a number of former Scenic City high school stars who've reached the NFL: Tony Brown, Josh and Daniel Bullocks, Terdell Sands, Jacques McClendon.
While it's wonderful to see Senetra Weaver encourage her husband's NFL buddies to take a weekend out of their summer to help our town's youth, it would seem infinitely better to have our homegrown stars run this camp.
"Tony's always been there for us," said Richard West of the Parks and Recreation Department. "But we need to get all those guys working together for one camp (the Bullockses and Sands often have held their own camps). If we could do that, just think how big this thing could be."
But something young Arty Travis, who will continue his football career at Cumberland University, said Saturday afternoon shows how big this camp's message is today.
"I came here to see what professionals know about football that got them as far as it has," he said. "Now that I've heard it, I hope I can come back here one day as a NFL player and do this for another group of kids."
He might even get a free wedding singer in the deal.