Young football athletes learn about protecting their bodies, while improving their skills

MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- Young athletes filled the Mishawaka Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon for a football clinic that focused on protecting their bodies as improving their game.

"We did a stretch and warm up together, drills, and then after this, they'll go up and learn about recovery with recovery tools. Parents will have a Q and A with our OSMC sports medicine physicians. You see a lot of ACL. You know, people want to be careful about that. Our physicians are great at doing the Q and A of talking about you know what to do that multi-sport athlete," said Jacque Stahl, Vice President of Marketing at OSMC.

The Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center (OSMC) partnered with former Notre Dame quarterback Ian Book for its first "Train Like a Pro" youth football clinic, an event for athletes ages 9 to 15 that sold out ahead of Sunday.

"The biggest thing Ian really wanted to bring was kind of that that positive attitude, camaraderie, making sure that it's a mental toughness game, and making sure that on and off the field that they're doing that in their everyday lives," said Stahl.

Book started 35 games at Notre Dame, finishing with a 30-5 record as the winningest quarterback in program history.

He was a fourth-round pick of the New Orleans Saints in 2021 and won the Super Bowl with the Philadelphia Eagles.