Coby’s Coding Camp Shows The Power Of Athletes In STEM Education

In the NFL’s off-season, players make their way all around the country – whether it’s back to their hometown or in the team’s local area – running training camps to advertise and develop the game. These camps traditionally promote things like physical activity, healthy eating habits, tips for motivation and skills drills, but for Indianapolis Colts’ tight end, Coby Fleener, things are done a little differently. Two months ago a deal was made with Fleener and software company, Six Feet Up, to introduce what has been named ‘Coby’s Coding Camp’ to 60 students from Shepherd Community Center. The camp was aimed at showing the students the limitless world that is software coding in the most unique way – by having an NFL player teach it to them. Coming out of Stanford University, Fleener completed a Bachelor of Science, Technology and Society Degree, showing a keen interest in one day making it to Silicon Valley, according to IndyStar. “Easier said than done,” he cautioned. “Everybody in America imagines themselves one step away from creating the next big app.” While he may be relatively accurate, it would be safe to assume that not everybody currently playing in the NFL has Silicon Valley on their agenda. The camp involved Fleener, Six Feet Up, and local tech companies – Launch Fishers and Eleven Fifty Academy – teaching kids the basics of coding using the Raspberry Pi platform, a computer the size of a credit card. As time progresses, society is no doubt heading into an age that will be dominated by technology. We have seen the corporatization of sport and the research and analytics take over the strategic departments that contribute to on-field success, but now we are beginning to see it make its way into the minds of the athletes themselves. In a similar light, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver, Torrey Smith, recently ran a training camp that involved a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) station in an aim to engage kids in a way that promotes education on a level plain with sport. Will this prove to be the beginning of a new trend in professional sport? Not only is it all about promoting technology and education to the younger generation, but it also teaches people everywhere that it is important to plan for life after sport. Not only is it important financially, but many professional athletes all around the world in a range of different sports suffer from a lack of purpose and self-worth after they retire from sport and delve deep into retirement. The fact is that the majority of athletes’ sporting careers at the professional level are over by the age of 40 and they must then find a way to remain relevant while other people their age may still be working in their full-time jobs until they are 60. Finding ways to develop outside of sport is an integral part for all elite athletes and young people making the transition from college into professional sport. Fleener told Colts Roundup, “I would say that there’s kind of an aura around Silicon Valley of you can create any possibility that you want. And so, if we can teach the kids that they can create their future, literally, through learning some of this stuff, it’s really exciting.” With that kind of attitude, if we see a few more Coby Fleener’s and Torrey Smith’s working with students, both sport and technology will be in a good place.