Jan. 30, 2026, 5:05 a.m. CT
The eyes of the football world will be on California for Super Bowl LX as a former quarterback under Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid leads an initiative to help youth in the community.
Beyond the Game Health founder Shamekka Marty has created a comprehensive experience that equips young athletes with both athletic skills and the knowledge to save lives — their own and others’. This Saturday’s California Classic Health Flag Football Camp is a groundbreaking 3-hour interactive youth camp that combines elite athletic training with critical education on heart health and mental wellness.
Four-time NFL Pro Bowler Jeff Garcia will lead youth participants through professional-level skill drills and mentorship while integrating life-saving education on Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA) awareness, CPR/AED training with local EMS students, and athlete-led discussions on mental health resilience.
“Shamekka Marty reached out to me and expressed interest in having me involved. Much of it is based on my South Bay Area roots, growing up in Gilroy, 30 miles from San Jose. There’s a lot of familiarity there, and it’s something that I really hold close and dear to my heart.” Garcia told Chiefs Wire’s Ed Easton Jr., “Working with the youth, not only just coaching the game of football, but how that applies into life, and how everything that they can learn on that field, through teamwork, through dedicating themselves to this craft, hard work, all of the things that they will deal with, adversity, health, creating a better life for themselves with their own health.”
Garcia notably had two stints with the Philadelphia Eagles, playing for Reid as a backup to starter Donovan McNabb. He led the 2006 Eagles to the postseason following McNabb’s season-ending injury. He continues to demonstrate his unique resilience through high school coaching and community service.
Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.
“All those things just really are in my wheelhouse, as far as how I approach life, and to be able to be out there working with our youth.” said Garcia, “Teaching the game of flag football, and then also the health aspects of CPR, of teaching them how to deal with emergencies, all those things are just key for our youth to be knowledgeable in case of emergency.”
Ten-year veteran of professional football turned actor Stevie Baggs Jr. is known for his powerhouse presence, humanitarian work, and dedication to youth development. He joins Garcia for the event, bringing a “champion mindset” coaching style and teaching young athletes excellence both on and off the field.
“I think that what you think is rejection sometimes is your protection,” Baggs Jr. told Easton Jr., “The reason I say that is because all the things that I learned, all the things that I gained throughout that journey, has helped me become the man that I am today, and doing all the things that I do, from helping out in the community, like this California Classic Health Flag Football Camp that we are doing, it’s an honor to be a part of something like this and to to leverage it.”
For more information, visit Beyond the Game Health.
