The first thing Tahir Whitehead felt was the heat. He knew it would be humid when he landed in Panama, but this was the middle of July. So there’s American humidity, and then there’s what he was dealing with.
He didn’t mind, though, because of the reason he was there. The Detroit Lions linebacker has always tried promoting football wherever he can, teaching the game to younger players to grow its future.
He does it in the United States with his own football camp, and it’s kind of how he ended up on a plane headed for Panama City, Panama, in the first place. One of Whitehead’s public relations people approached him with the idea of going to Panama to help teach football. Whitehead eagerly accepted it.
“It gives me the opportunity to help other people who may not necessarily know the game as I know it playing in the NFL — the opportunity to learn more about it and show my passion for the game and hope that they would share the same passion,” Whitehead said. “Football is mainly recognized in the [United] States, and obviously in London now, and we play some games in Mexico.
“I want to be part of the group that’s pushing it forward, pushing the envelope to try and expand on that so we can continue to try and get it in other parts of the world to play football.”
Whitehead, along with Chicago receiver Kevin White, Oakland linebacker Bruce Irvin and former NFL quarterback Michael Vick ended up on an expenses-paid trip to Panama Pacifico Sports Park for a three-day clinic for The Camp Panama to help spread a game that was already growing in the country.
About 250 people — including about 25 women — participated in parts of the clinic, used primarily to teach and improve the fundamentals of football. The camps started in 2012 in Panama, but this is the first time active NFL players participated.
“Tahir was the most involved with the kids,” said Indra Evans, the CEO of NewSide Panama, which put on the clinic. “The four of them were amazing — their performance and the way they treated the kids and the way they wanted to share their knowledge.”
Evans already asked Whitehead if he would return for a future camp since they are trying to run three camps a year. Whitehead is considering it because it combines two of the things he enjoys the most: football and traveling.
The experience gave Whitehead a chance to tour a city he had never been to. He was surprised at Panama City’s skyscrapers – and the presence of an IHOP. He went there, ordered a fish dish he had never heard of, and found out that the man showing him the city – and one of the camp’s sponsors — owned the restaurant.
He toured the new, expanded Panama Canal, which opened days before Whitehead and the other NFL players arrived.
“Just hearing how ships pass through there and the amounts of money they make off the canal, I learned a lot down there,” Whitehead said. “Just the culture in itself. It was amazing.”
He also was surprised that most of the kids he worked with understood and spoke some English, so the language barrier wasn’t as difficult as he anticipated. However, there were a couple of times he had to check the translation app he downloaded on his phone to make sure he was saying things correctly.
He didn’t venture outside the city during his trip, though, because he was focused on the camp, which had a question-and-answer session the first day, followed by two days of drills. During the Q&A session, one answer from Whitehead stood out to Evans.
He was asked about reaching the NFL from Panama. Instead of giving a typical answer about having to do things on the field, Whitehead went a different way.
“He said if you want to be a really good football player, you have to be a good son, a good student, every other thing that they didn’t expect he was going to say, you know,” Evans said. “Keep on your values. It’s not only if the pass evolves the right way or if you have the best position or tackle the best. It’s a group of things that makes you valuable on the field.”
That’s typically the message Whitehead tries to impart to students when he speaks in the United States, so he brought it to Panama, too.
“You just try to offer them the best advice possible,” Whitehead said. “But also to let them know to be realistic with themselves and understanding the hurdles they would have to get over to necessarily get to the NFL, with them not being on that same platform down there, not getting the same scouts to see them.
“Just knowing people are really scratching and clawing to get to the NFL from Panama was really eye-opening. It really made me cherish being here that much more.”