ORANGE PARK - Orange Park area youth athletes; mainly football and basketball players from aged six to maybe 15, got a chance to test their skill sets against a handful of Orange Park's best ever athletes at Saturday's second annual OPAA Community Day sports camps staged on the OPAA football fields and also on the OPAA basketball courts.
"I run a lawn business in the area and I think I did like 15 lawns in the past two days before the camp," said Gonzago "Pookie" Floyd, a towering 6'4", maybe 250 pound retired National Football League defensive end for the Jacksonville Jaguars as he was drenched in sweat stealing some shade under a quickly moving shadow of one of the trees on the perimeter of the Orange Park Athletic Association football field fence. "But, you know, I woke up exhausted, but said I got to see the kids today, let them know that football and life is a matter of being dedicated to those who rely on you. I'm here, we are here because it matters to the community."

Floyd, who was joined by his brother, LaMont Floyd, a University of Alabama standout defensive player and NFL player, and Todd Floyd, another in the Floyd clan with a superb football playing resume at Florida A & M University, who had his son, T.J., recently finish a standout season with Princeton University, all showed up to run football drills under the direction of Community Day architect Edward Keyes, yet another Orange Park High Raider footballer with the Floyds that had an outstanding state champion career under Bolles legendary coach Corky Rogers, then Georgia Tech and Central Florida.
"These guys were kids just like what we have here today with dreams," said Keyes, who with wife Annie, run the Keyes Foundation that features a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S.T.E.M.) related opportunity annually for their beloved Grove Park Elementary School right up the block from the OPAA sports field. "It's a blessing that they take the time of their schedules; Pookie runs a business, LaMont runs a business IVG Mortgage, Todd is a coach and teacher, yet they always come back and give the kids their blessings on the field to be better not just in football and basketball, but life itself. It's all connected."


In a special ceremony to honor Clay Today Sports Editor Randy Lefko, Keyes reminded campers that great athletes have been on the OPAA fields for decades.
"It starts with the fun and camaraderie of growing up in a good neighborhood with parents that care about the kids being active," said Keyes. "This Grove Park area is a very tight community that has been a staple for great athletes, then kind of lost a little of that, but then we all got together to make it great again."