Cade Klubnik thrills and chills with free camp for local youth

Klubnik leading the way at his youth camp.

David Hood - Senior Writer - Sunday, July 21 2024

WALHALLA – Cade Klubnik and 260 of his admirers were having the time of their lives.

As the daylight began to fade Saturday night, Klubnik rolled right, didn’t see an open receiver and was immediately pressured by a defender who didn’t stand more than a shade under four feet tall. The defender giggled and the chase was on as Klubnik spun around and launched a missile to a receiver thirty yards downfield for a touchdown.

More laughs and high-fives ensued.

Klubnik and several of his teammates hosted the Cade Klubnik Youth Football Camp on Saturday at Walhalla High School. The camp was free for the kids who attended.

“Honestly, just I didn't want somebody to have to pay for an experience like that. I just wanted to have anybody from anywhere be able to come experience four hours of just a great time,” Klubnik told TigerNet. “Everybody comes from different backgrounds, and I wanted just anybody to come and meet me and meet all my friends and meet all of my teammates and have an experience like anybody else could.

“I wanted to kind of wait to give back and I was thankful for having United Bank be able to come and obviously sponsor it. I kind of had a choice. I could have done it last year without a sponsor and charge them and have less kids show up, or I could make it free by getting a sponsor and make it for as many kids as I can. So, I decided to do that, and it was awesome.”

Klubnik, holding a plastic Gatorade bottle, delighted more than one camper by dousing him or her with water after asking if they were hot. He threw touchdown passes, agonized when a camper dropped a pass, and answered plenty of questions along the way. Chills and thrills for everybody.

He was joined by several of his teammates, including Shelton Lewis, Ronan Hanafin, Phil Mafah, Jack Smith, Ethan Anderson, Ryan Linthicum, RJ Mickens, and more importantly, his tackles in Blake Miller and Tristan Leigh.

“It was awesome. It was super fun,” Klubnik said of having his teammates support. “I honestly kind of gave them a late notice. I told all of them yesterday about it, and some of them even today, I just completely forgot to bring guys. I honestly didn't know if I was going to be able to bring people and then told them and they were like, yeah, we're in. Let's do it. And didn't even hesitate. We had a really long week, and they were straight into hanging out with me and 260 kids for four hours. So, it was awesome.”

I asked Klubnik about his joy of sharing the game of football with younger players.

“It was fun. Just a good reminder of what the game is,” he said. “And I felt like I was just in these kids' shoes a few years ago, looking up to guys like me, and it was just great to do something like this and just come hang out. And it's been a long summer. And just kind of a way to top it off in a little bit of a fun way.”