Canty holds Camp of Champions at George Washington HS

This article By Ebenezer Samuel originally appeared in the New York Daily News

The Giants may be enjoying a few weeks off before training camp. But that doesn't mean that Chris Canty is merely relaxing. 

No, the Giants' veteran defensive tackle spent Thursday and Friday at George Washington High in the Bronx, working with youngsters at his annual youth football camp, the Camp of Champions. Canty has hosted the camp for six years, but 2012 marked the first year that the Bronx native did so in New York City, where he grew up. 

"Obviously, I played here," he said. "I'm here year-round. To have the opportunity to give back to these young men and women here, it's just awesome."

Canty worked with the New York Police Athletic League, the United Way of New York City and Verizon to set up the camp in New York. He also recruited a handful of fellow NFLers for the camp, including Giants teammates Michael Boley, Andre Brown and Jason Pierre-Paul. Fellow University of Virginia alum Clint Sintim, Kevin Ogletree and Eugene Monroe also gave him a hand. 

Canty's brother Jeff handled much of the behind-the-scenes work, but Jeff Canty said that Chris was plenty involved in the endeavor. 

"It's his baby," Jeff Canty said. "He really has a heart to do this."

Canty's passion made it easy for other players to get involved. 

"For us, pretty much anytime guys have something like this, we always try to come out," Boley said. "It's probably the reason I do it. I didn't grow up having anything like this. Being able to come back, kind of give kids a little motivation, something to look forward to.

Around 250 kids showed up for the first day of the camp, running football drills on the George Washington HS field on Thursday.

"Everybody has something to give these kids, whether it's your time, it's your resources, whether it's a specific skill or talent," Canty said. "We do this camp to impact these kids, to give a spark in their lives. But we also want to inspire everybody else in the community.

"The high school dropout rate right now is one in four kids," Canty added. "That's something that we need to do something about."