Offensive lineman Breno Giacomini (68) monitors a running station at Saturday's Kids Camp inside the Don Hutson Center.
Eight-year-old Garrett Schrameyer has a memorable story to take back to his friends in Plymouth, Ind.
On Saturday morning, Garrett was one of nearly 200 boys and girls between the ages of 6 and 14 who participated in the first-ever Kids Camp as part of Fan Fest. All the campers went through a series of football drills under the guidance of current Packers John Kuhn, Brad Jones, Allen Barbre and Breno Giacomini along with alumni Don Majkowski and Craig Newsome. Local football players from NEW Lutheran High School also assisted.
The best part for young Garrett? Catching a bomb from Majkowski, the former Green Bay quarterback, and taking it in for a touchdown.
"It was probably 30 or 40 yards," Garrett said. "Maybe 50. I think by the time I got to the end zone it was about 60."
It may keep getting longer and longer the more he talks about it, but no matter the actual length it was quite the thrill, and a great capper to a series of fun drills inside the Don Hutson Center.
Kids worked on their speed by quick-stepping through the ropes, just like players do in training camp. They ran around stationary blockers and threw blocks into pads themselves. They took handoffs and jumped through some blocking pads to get to the end zone. They tested their accuracy by throwing some passes of their own at different targets, and they had to fight through a couple of obstacles as they caught a short throw from one of the players.
And then there was the one long pass from the guy Garrett called "the quarterback before Brett Favre."
"He's pretty much obsessed with the Packers," said Chris Schrameyer, Garrett's father, a native of Sheboygan, Wis., and a lifelong Green Bay fan. Chris said the family lives near South Bend, Ind., which he referred to as Colts' and Bears' territory, but Garrett's allegiance is to the Packers. "He's obsessed with football in general. He knows all the rules."
So much so that on Friday night when Garrett had a chance to meet Head Coach Mike McCarthy during an autograph session, he asked him about the potential facemask penalty that wasn't called on the Cardinals' game-winning play in overtime to end the Packers' season.
Like all the youngsters, Garrett also got autographs from the players who helped run the Kids Camp, but the highlight was getting to do the football drills with them.
Jacob and Kaitlyn Danielsen, ages 9 and 8, respectively, from Stevens Point, Wis., both liked jumping through the "blockers" into the padded end zone the best.
"You could dive in any way you wanted," Jacob said. "I jumped in and did like a somersault."
{sportsad300}The Danielsen children are Junior Power Pack members who came to Fan Fest for a third time. Their father, Peter, said the children's grandfather has shared a lot of stories with his grandkids about the Vince Lombardi-era Packers, and that's one of the reasons Jacob wears a Ray Nitschke No. 66 jersey, a rarity on a young child.
It also made for a special moment at Fan Fest for the family last year, when Hall of Fame defensive end Willie Davis struck up a brief conversation with Kaitlyn during a meet-and-greet session.
"Willie took some time with her last year, and that was really neat," Peter said. "He asked her name, and it just lit up her eyes. She talked about it the whole way home."
All the Kids Camp participants will have their own football-playing memories to talk about on the way home this year, no matter how long their long pass was.
"Just being inside the facility is pretty cool," Chris Schrameyer said. "It's a chance to get on the turf and see where the players practice."
