Having played sports since he was 9, James Robinson’s broad knowledge serves the former Texas Southern University offensive lineman well. Each week, the Parks & Recreation summer camp he oversees focuses on a different sport.

Story and photos by Dave Schafer

The children don’t notice the heat, which is nearly 90 degrees at 10:30 a.m. They’re having too much fun running around the Cleveland Park softball field, kicking up dirt and lobbing good-natured, competitive insults as proficiently as their coaches lob underhand pitches.

“Are you ready, Sammy Sosa?” calls coach James Robinson, Parks & Recreation Department recreation assistant, to a girl who steps to the plate.

“More like Sammy So-no,” one boy calls from the field. Others laugh and take up the chant. “So-no, So-no.”

Robinson is in the middle of the jawing, feeding the children’s heckling and feeding off it.

Most of his good-natured taunts are leveled at Otto Moore, the other recreation assistant. Moore helps Robinson with this group from one of four sports camps the city is running as a summer enrichment program.

Based at the Fonde Recreation Center, the camp runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. five days a week for 10 weeks. About 140 children, ages 6-13, from a variety of backgrounds are registered for the camp.

Robinson runs the program for 11-13 year olds, and he puts the focus on having fun and learning sportsmanship. About 40 children are in Robinson’s group.

“If these kids don’t have fun, then I’m upset,” says Robinson, 37, a 6-foot, 5-inch, 355-pound former college offensive lineman.

He knows he needs to lead by example. So he makes a show of having fun and runs his brick wall of a body around the field until sweat is pouring down his bald head.

“If I’m not having fun, they’re not going to have fun,” says Robinson, who’s worked at Fonde for three summers and with the summer program since 1996. “If they see me sitting in the shade under a tree, they’re not going to want to play the games.”

He’s right. His activeness and playfulness rub off on the children. Or maybe it’s the other way around.

“I ain’t nothing but a big kid myself,” he admits with a laugh. Many of his sentences end in laughs that shake his huge shoulders.

Catching pop ups, coaching kids

Robinson, a recreation assistant in Parks & Recreation, sets an example for the children by enjoying himself. As a result, he and the children have fun and laugh often.

When a girl pops the ball up to Moore, Robinson runs over and barks like a rottweiler. Moore drops the ball.

Later, when Robinson catches a pop up, he says, “I can catch. I ain’t Otto.”

“I’m taking you to the house,” Robinson tells Moore as he steps to the plate. Moore is pitching for the other team.

But he doesn’t take Moore to the house. He grounds into a fielder’s choice, then Moore picks him off first base.

Moore taunts Robinson right back. But the men’s jawing is good-natured, and they clearly like each other.

The children yell at one another and seem to be itching for a fight. But fighting and cussing aren’t allowed, says Robinson, who has been playing sports since he was 9. So the children’s barbs take on the feel of good-natured play as well.

Robinson doesn’t just jaw on the field. He also coaches the children on the techniques of batting.

His comforting demeanor makes him good at it. Although he looks intimidating, his manner is disarming.

He’s laid back. His tone is friendly and comforting. The children, on the verge of their rebellious teen years, are at ease around him.

Keeping them safe and busy
Each week of the camp, the children play a different sport. This week it’s softball; next week it’s volleyball.

The camp is about exposing the children to a variety of sports so they know where their interests lie. It gets them active.

And, he says, it keeps the children out of trouble during the summer hours when parents are at work.

“If you’ve got a kid on the field, that’s one less on the street.”

By 10:45 the children are loading up in the vans. Next is lunch, then the swimming pool and back to Fonde for a few hours of basketball.

Robinson isn’t around for the basketball. He leaves for one of his other two jobs at 3 p.m.

By far, he says, this job is his favorite.

“I have more fun with this group of kids than I have the rest of the year.”

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