By TIM GUERCIO

THE NATCHEZ DEMOCRAT

NATCHEZ — Eric Berry who played nine seasons at safety for the Kansas City Chiefs will host a football camp from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Natchez High School.

The Eric Berry Natchez Speed & Agility Football Camp is free and is open to boys and girls ages 8 to 18 and will be conducted by the Eric Berry Foundation.

Berry, who played at The University of Tennessee and was drafted by the Chiefs in the first round of 2010, was the fifth pick overall.

Berry has played for the Chiefs since 2010, including five Pro Bowls.

Berry, who grew up in Atlanta knew he would start a charity one day if he got to the NFL.

The NFL did not inspire Berry’s charity, said his father James Berry.

“This was always Eric’s idea,” James Berry said. “When he was growing up Eric wanted to go to camps but we couldn’t afford it. He went to one or two but he didn’t go to many. It was his mother Carol’s idea to make his camps free.”

James Berry said that as a rookie in 2010 Eric conducted his first camp in Atlanta.

“It started in Atlanta,” James Berry said. “Then we put on a camp in Kansas City and then in Knoxville. This year we decided to do a camp in Natchez.”

James Berry still lives in Atlanta, but he is a Natchez native and a 1978 graduate of North Natchez High School, he said.

“We were thinking this year, why don’t we do this in Natchez?” Berry said. “I played football at Tennessee also, like my son, and we know a lot of coaches who help us out with our program.”

Eric and I both will be there in person along with other coaches to help us run the program, James Berry said.

“We call it our Speed & Agility program,” James Berry said. “We run a fast-pace, and it is always a fun-filled day with our seven drills. We will run ladders, hurdles, shuttle, parachutes, four corners, reaction, and we will run the 40.”

Register for free at EB29.com or call Deborah Berry 770-605-2459 or Diana Franklin 601-807-6921.