Former Brown planning football camp in Avon
Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram
AVON — Former Pro Bowl center LeCharles Bentley is looking at opening his own football school on Jaycox Road.
The LeCharles Bentley Offensive Line Academy would be a 4,800-square-foot training center for high school athletes from the Cleveland suburbs, according to a proposal to the Avon Planning Commission.
It would prep local seniors to play as offensive linemen on collegiate teams, but an advanced program also would provide services to college and NFL players.
The proposed academy is in an industrially zoned area near Avon Commerce Parkway, next door to Playground World, Little Flippers Gym and Pizzazz. In order to open, it needs a special-use permit from the city, Planning Commission Secretary Dorrie Bommer said.
Bentley’s permit application said development for offensive linemen is often overlooked in the grand scheme of team-building.
“The development of functional strength, power, explosion and sound technique takes the back seat to girth,” it said. “The culture of ‘bigger is better’ often puts the athlete in a compromising position.”
Instead of asking how to become powerful players, offensive linemen too often try to simply eat more, it said, which leaves many teenagers looking for answers in the form of anabolic steroids.
Bentley’s school would house 3,000 square feet of field turf plus an 1,800-square-foot weight room to help linemen build muscle and skills. The permit application said some of the weight area would be equipped for Pilates and a build-out would include a room for massage.
Most importantly, the academy would be a safe haven for youth, it said.
Offensive linemen tend to be one-sport athletes and are left with nothing to do from December to August, the application said. Quarterbacks, receivers and running backs have camps and clinics year-round, but offensive linemen are typically viewed as the “fat kids” nobody wants to play with, it said.
Dave Williams, who manages Playground World, said he saw Bentley looking at the property last month but didn’t recognize him at the time.
“But that’s definitely who it was,” he said. “A football (training center) would make a lot of sense here, especially considering the space we have.”
Playground World is in the same building as the proposed academy. Williams said that space is currently empty and was previously used as a warehouse to store truck axles.
Bentley’s Broadview Heights-based management company could not be reached for comment.
A Cleveland native who excelled while playing at Ohio State, Bentley was hailed as the anchor of the offensive line when he was signed by the Browns in 2006. But on the first day of training camp that year, he suffered a torn patellar tendon and subsequently contracted a staph infection. He tried to stage a comeback at training camp this year, but was released and, despite working out for other teams, is not playing professional football at this time.
The Avon Planning Commission is expected to hear a presentation from the company at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Bommer said.
Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Jason Hawk | The Chronicle-Telegram October 10th, 2008 in BREAKING, Top Stories. Popularity: 2% |
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