Miami — Danny Flores, a sophomore defensive tackle at Miami High school, was invited to attend the USA football team skills camp last year but was unable to attend.

When it came around this year, Danny’s mom, Sandra Garcia, starting making the calls to find out the time and location of the next camp to make sure he was able to be there. It was a two day camp held in Gilbert, Ariz.

There were more than 300 athletes, separated onto three different football fields with NCAA coaches present. Flores explained the experience as “amazing” to be working with the college coaches. Over the two-day span, the athletes in attendance took part in: 1-on-1 drills, group non-contact drills, 7-on-7 competitions, and character development. Flores’ performance at the camp will be evaluated and in June he will be notified if he made the National Team Program.

If chosen, the next steps for Flores will be:

• Select players are chosen from Regional Development camps to take part in a three- or five-day program where they’ll compete against top athletes from across the nation in contact or non-contact games while continuing to train with current NCAA coaches.

• From the National Development Games, the next step is being selected to represent the United States in games against other countries’ national teams ― including the annual North American Championship games against Canada and International Bowl games against Canada and Japan.

• The highest honor a high school football athlete can achieve is being chosen for the Under-19 U.S. National Team and getting the opportunity to compete for a gold medal in an eight-nation international tournament hosted every two years in countries around the world.

Sandra said that her son really had fun at the skills camp and since then, he has received invitations from Idaho, California, and Tennessee. Sandra also added that she travels for her work, but Miami High School and the community has been so amazing that she is thinking of staying until Danny graduates.