Carolina Panthers punter Jason Baker was walking the sidelines during his team's January playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals when he saw an NFL executive.

“What's going on?” Baker said.

“Nothing good,” the executive replied. “Call me tomorrow.”

The next day Baker found out the NFL had eliminated all support for its youth football camps, one of which was run by Baker in Fort Wayne.

“I was discouraged and anxious about it,” Baker said. “Two hours later, I was completely excited about the opportunity to really do specifically what we want to do without some of the barriers.”

Baker talked with supporters and volunteers for the camp and a new format was born. Baker's “Pro Football Mini Camp” for sixth- through eighth-graders from Summit Athletic Conference schools will be May 16-17 at Concordia Lutheran and Wayne high schools.

It will include football instruction, a community service event for the campers and a coaching clinic.

Baker, a nine-year NFL veteran who played high school football at Wayne, is as excited about the character-building aspect of the camp as he is about football.

“No kid will pay a dollar to go to this camp; we have the resources to cover 350 kids,” Baker said. “But it's not free to them. What I mean by that is, they'll have to put some skin into it. Each one of them will participate in a community service project.”

Campers will take part in their community service project the morning the camp begins May 16. At the same time, a coaches clinic will be conducted by local high school coaches for youth and middle school coaches. Physical therapist Dave Kuhn will also speak with the coaches about medical issues in the sport. A representative from the Positive Coaches Alliance will also be on hand.

“There are so many things we can do now that we couldn't do before because we had to fit in a box required by the NFL,” Baker said.

“Truthfully, there couldn't be a worse time to go around and raise three times as much money as we originally had to raise, but the response has been great.”

Middle-school students who will attend SAC high schools can pick up information about the camp at their school's athletic offices.