{"id":53050,"date":"2014-06-26T07:44:37","date_gmt":"2014-06-26T12:44:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=53050"},"modified":"2014-06-27T07:40:34","modified_gmt":"2014-06-27T12:40:34","slug":"pro-grid-player-kory-lichtensteiger-enjoys-giving-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2014\/06\/26\/pro-grid-player-kory-lichtensteiger-enjoys-giving-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Kory Lichtensteiger enjoys giving back"},"content":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/<\/b>independent feature writer<\/i><\/p>\n

CONVOY — At 6 feet, 2 inches and 296 pounds, Kory Lichtensteiger, the former Crestview Knight turned Washington Redskins center, is no doubt a menacing and intimidating opponent on the gridiron. Off the field, he\u2019s a husband, a busy and active father to four boys and a down-home country boy at heart.<\/p>\n

\"Kory<\/a>
Kory Lichtensteiger reads to a fan during a Redskins Kids Club event. Lichtensteiger, a center for the Washington Redskins and a Crestview High School graduate, will host his annual football camp this Saturday at Crestview. (Washington Redskins photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raised in rural northwest Ohio, Lichtensteiger hasn\u2019t forgotten his simple roots, or the values and ethics he learned as a standout athlete for Crestview High School.<\/p>\n

His passion for all things athletic and his drive to succeed propelled him through a collegiate career at Bowling Green State University where he earned All-Mid-America Conference honors during each of his four seasons there. Selected by the Denver Broncos in the fourth round (108th overall) of the 2008 football draft, Lichtensteiger signed with the Washington Redskins in 2010.<\/p>\n

A season-ending knee injury in 2011 sent him to the sidelines, but his efforts to make his way back to the field earned the respect of his teammates and organization, which awarded him the Ed Block Courage Award in 2012.<\/p>\n

That intense drive to succeed is mirrored only by his desire to make a difference in the lives of others. To that end, Lichtensteiger has been involved in numerous charitable activities off the field, including his participation in several volunteer organizations, where he spends time reading to children or providing cakes to cancer patients.<\/p>\n

On the field, Lichtensteiger recently re-signed with the Redskins, who are in rebuilding mode after last year\u2019s 3-13 showing and the subsequent firing of head coach Mike Shanahan and the majority of his coaching staff. It was a difficult and disappointing year, and one Lichtensteiger is more than happy to put behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we had a lot of potential but we just didn\u2019t go anywhere with it,\u201d he said of the 2013 campaign. \u201cWe were coming off a strong year the year before, but, unfortunately, when you lose that many games, and are losing them eight and nine in a row, it\u2019s just never a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless, the Redskins are embracing the regime change and have welcomed a lot of new faces. \u201cIt\u2019s going pretty good. I moved from guard to center and I\u2019ve had a good spring and early summer at that position,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI have a lot of confidence going into the year so far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lichtensteiger will enter this season having played in 69 regular season games with 51 starts. His resume is impressive, no doubt. But his passion to have a positive impact is even more so.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one of the reasons he comes \u201chome\u201d every year to host a football camp for local and regional high school football players.<\/p>\n

\"Crestview<\/a>
Crestview grad Kory Lichtensteiger on the field during a Washington Redskins game. (photo submitted)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019ll be bringing his skills and expertise with him, and a few notable guests, including Redskins strength and conditioning Coach Chad Englehart. The camp will offer the usual instruction on basics and fundamentals, but will go even further by offering local athletes an up-close look at what they might see at an NFL combine training session.<\/p>\n

\u201cChad used to coach at one of the NFL combine training facilities, so he has a lot of experience with speed and technique and the things it takes to become not only a faster football player, but a smarter football player,\u201d Lichtensteiger said. \u201cI think this camp is unique not only because it\u2019s in a rural setting and kind of in everybody\u2019s back yard, but we\u2019ll have coaches and athletes from 13 different colleges coming in.<\/p>\n

\u201cColleges are really looking at your 40 (meter) time and pro shuttle, so we\u2019ll be working a lot on that,\u201d Lichtensteiger added. \u201cThere are tangibles and intangibles, and we\u2019re going to use this camp to work on things you can actually measure.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing Lichtensteiger was measuring and keeping up with this year was Crestview\u2019s outstanding athletic successes this year, which included a state championship title for the boys\u2019 basketball team after a 29-0 season, as well as a trip to the state tournament for the baseball team.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really cool to watch,\u201d Lichtensteiger said of his alma mater\u2019s successes this year. \u201cIt was nice to make it back for some of their games; once they made it to BG for regionals, I decided that if they were going to win a state championship, I wasn\u2019t going to miss it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lichtensteiger was a center for the Knights\u2019 basketball team when they made it to the state championship game in 2003, but fell to Marion Local. \u201cI haven\u2019t been able to play an organized game of basketball in a long time,\u201d he said, \u201cbut I was really proud of all of them and it was great seeing everyone have so much fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

At his camp this weekend, players will do a lot of work, with a little bit of fun mixed in. \u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to it,\u201d Lichtensteiger said during a telephone interview, noting that he was preparing then to pack up the luggage and the kids and head back to his hometown.<\/p>\n

There is still time to register online prior to the camp, which is advised, or players can register at 8:15 a.m. this Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is welcome to come out and, if you don\u2019t get registered before Saturday, you can still come out and get the same instruction and coaching as everyone else,\u201d Lichtensteiger added.<\/p>\n

The camp will take place from 9 a.m. to noon at Crestview High School. For more information or to register, visit the camp webpage at www.klfootballcamp.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CINDY WOOD\/independent feature writer CONVOY — At 6 feet, 2 inches and 296 pounds, Kory Lichtensteiger, the former Crestview Knight turned Washington Redskins center, is no doubt a menacing and intimidating opponent on the gridiron. Off the field, he\u2019s a husband, a busy and active father to four boys and a down-home country boy at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-06 18:08:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}