OUR REACH
Changing Lives, One Camp at a Time
Since 2017, Football for Life has brought free, high-quality football and softball camps directly to Native American communities — no travel required, no cost to families.
OUR APPROACH
We Come to the Community
Football for Life brings camps directly to Native American reservations and schools. Rather than expecting families to travel to a fixed location, we partner with local schools and coaches to host camps where the kids already are.
Camps rotate based on facility availability and community need, which means more schools get access over time. We’ve hosted camps in South Dakota, California, Arizona, and New Mexico — and we’re growing every year. Burney High School in California will be joining the program this year. We’re discussing expansion into Oklahoma.
Each camp is free to attend. Every coach volunteers their time. Every dollar raised goes directly toward making these camps happen.
WHERE WE’VE BEEN
Communities We’ve Served
We’ve been proud to work with the following schools and communities. This list grows every year as new partnerships develop.
- Pine Ridge High School — Pine Ridge, SD
- Little Wound High School — Kyle, SD
- Lower Brule High School — Lower Brule, SD
- Tiospa Zina Tribal School — Agency Village, SD
- Lakota Tech High School — Kyle, SD
- Todd County High School — Mission, SD
- Santa Fe Indian School — Santa Fe, NM
- Monument Valley High School — Kayenta, AZ
- San Pasqual Valley High School — Winterhaven, CA
- Burney High School — Burney, CA (Coming This Year)
WORLD-CLASS COACHING
Coaches Who’ve Been There
What makes Football for Life camps different is who’s on the sideline. Our coaches aren’t strangers — many of them grew up on the same reservations as the kids they’re teaching. They’ve gone on to play at the college, professional, and semi-professional level, and they come back to show the next generation what’s possible.
Our camps have featured coaching from high school coaches, college players, and professional players — including participants in the 2026 Indigenous Bowl. Many of our coaches are Native American, and all of them volunteer their time.
“A lot of these guys are from reservation communities and they’re bringing back what they experienced to the youth. It’s kind of neat to see a different perspective — them giving back to the Indigenous youth, talking about their experience and telling them how they can make it.”
— Bryan Begay, Head Football Coach, Monument Valley High School
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
What Participants Are Saying
“We just want to give the kids the opportunity to go to a good quality camp like ours. Where we’re from, you could go to one of these camps every weekend. The kids just don’t have that here, so we want to make sure they have that opportunity.”
— Joe Pina, Football for Life Founder
“For me, it’s a blessing to be out here — to be able to reach out to these kids through Football for Life.”
— Christian Littlehead, Coach & Oklahoma State Alumnus
“The coaches were really nice. They helped us and encouraged us. They said it was OK if we messed up because we’re still learning.”
— Andrea Rivera, Camp Participant
Help Us Reach More Communities
Every donation helps us bring a free camp to a community that needs it.