LOUIE AGUIAR GIVES "HIGH 5" TO HISPANIC COMMUNITY

Kansas City Chiefs punter LOUIE AGUIAR has formed The High 5 Foundation to benefit the Kansas City area Hispanic community through local agencies El Centro and Cancer Action. Aguiar had been planning to originate a program to benefit the local Hispanic community this offseason, but the scope of his foundation was broadened when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer in March. "Through my foundation, I wanted to help raise awareness of this disease, particularly in the Kansas City community which has supported me so enthusiastically since I signed with the Chiefs in ’94," Aguiar commented. He underwent successful surgery and has been given a clean bill of health to enter his eighth NFL season in ‘98 and his fifth with the Chiefs. Aguiar will pledge $100 for every punt he places inside the 20-yard line and challenges local corporations, businesses and individuals to join in his pledge campaign. The High 5 Foundation, named for Aguiar’s uniform number, will support El Centro by building a state-of-the-art computer lab for students age 12 to 18 who are enrolled in El Centro’s Migrant Education Program. The foundation also will support the efforts of Cancer Action, which conducts programs and support groups in Spanish, while also producing informative bilingual literature on this life-threatening illness.

SUMMER FOOTBALL TRAINING CAMPS TUTOR GERMANY’S YOUTH

Young football players across Germany will be able to develop their skills this summer at a series of training camps coordinated by NFL Europe. Representatives from NFL Europe League and coaches from amateur teams in Germany will put the 14-19 year-old participants through the four-day camps. The camps are designed to teach teamwork, discipline, work ethic and sportsmanship as well as the fundamentals of football. The first camp opens in northern Germany in Braunschweig on July 22, followed by one in Frankfurt on August 16, and in the southern city of Landsberg on September 2. Camp participants could earn a tryout for a spot on the Team Europe roster for the third annual Global Junior Championship against Mexico in Miami during Super Bowl week next January.

NFL EXPERIENCE TOURS VANCOUVER

The NFL Experience has "rolled" into Vancouver, setting up at different locations throughout the city in the weeks leading up to the American Bowl game on August 15 between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks. The interactive football-themed experience is housed in an 18-wheel truck decorated with NFL graphics, and features challenges in field-goal kicking, passing, scoring a touchdown and measuring up to the pros. The travelling NFL Experience, sponsored by the BC Lions and Canadian Airlines, also enables participants to qualify to win a trip to the San Francisco 49ers home opener against the New York Jets on September 6.