By Niki Femmer
Community Outreach Intern

At the end of practice on August 17, a bubbly 6-year-old girl, standing no more than two foot tall, took it upon herself to say, “Hi,” to Rams offensive lineman Adam Timmerman.  Emma Williams, who is being treated for Vitamin D Resistant Rickets at Shriner’s Hospital, marched right up to the 6 foot 4, 310 pound guard and asked if she could have his autograph.  Timmerman, as usual, gladly fulfilled the request.   

Emma was one of more than 300 community guests that attended training camp between August 1 and August 17 at Rams Park.  The Rams invited 26 area non-profit agencies to watch morning practice in a special VIP section, which included an autograph session after practice.  The missions of the different agencies ranged from fulfilling wishes of terminally ill children to helping people with developmental disabilities become more self-sufficient. 

“As a community, we are extremely fortunate to have so many organizations doing tremendous work and we felt like this was a great opportunity to recognize those efforts,” said Allison Collinger, director of corporate communications and community outreach, St. Louis Rams.  “By allowing a sick child or a person who is typically unable to attend a game to meet the players and experience training camp, we were able to let them escape the real world and have some fun if only for a couple hours.”   

Each day following the team’s morning practice, players would come to meet the 40-50 non-profit guests and sign autographs. 

On August 2, head coach Mike Martz broke practice early to allow the players to spend time thanking the more than 1,500 fans in attendance.  By the time the players had exited the field, more than 20 players had visited the Community Outreach VIP tent to meet children with the Disabled Athlete Sports Association, an organization that develops and organizes sporting events for children with physical and visual disabilities. 

Even last week, when bad weather forced the Rams to close practice to the public and move indoors for the last week of training camp, Coach Martz didn’t want to disappoint the team’s special guests.  Despite the limited space indoors, Coach Martz extended a special invitation to the community groups to watch practice at the indoor facility. 

Organizations that attended the 2005 training camp included: The Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, Rainbows for Kids, Disabled Athlete Sports Association, Backstoppers, Edgewood Children’s Center, University City Children’s Center, Dream Factory, Bear Essentials, Belle Center, Hervey Foundation, St. Louis ARC, St. Louis Society for the Physically Disabled, St. Vincent Home for Children, Council for Extended Care, Lift for Life, Covenant House and St. Louis Shriner’s Hospital.