Michael Bennett hosts free camp, calls out Steph Curry for charging

Seahawks DE Michael Bennett thinks more professional athletes should decline to charge for the camps they host.

Your teams. Your favorite writers. Wherever you want them. Personalize SI with our new App. Install on iOS or Android.​

Seattle Seahawks defensive end Michael Bennett is hosting a free football camp in Hawaii this week, and told KHON he thinks more professional athletes should decline to charge for their camps.

“I see a lot of different athletes come through Hawaii whether it’s Steph Curry or whoever it is,” Bennett said. “They all come here and it makes me mad, because I live in this community and I understand this community — that there’s so many kids who can’t afford to pay such a high amount of money. In my mind it’s like, how much money do you need before you start giving back for free? And I think a lot of athletes should start focusing on that.”

Curry hosted a sold-out basketball camp in Hawaii last weekend, where day campers were charged $2,000 and those staying overnight were charged $2,250. Bennett said never had the opportunity to attend expensive camps like Curry’s when he was growing up because his parents couldn’t afford it.

“If you do have a camp and you charge money for it, you need to make sure that money that you take from this community, you give back to the kids that are paying for the camp,” Bennett said. “These are the kids that live here. When you leave Hawaii and you go back to wherever you’re at, or you come here and you go back from this vacation you leave with a piece of paradise, but these people still live here every day.”

Bennett, whose wife is from Hawaii, will hold his camp at University of Hawaii on Saturday. Bennett, Chargers linebacker Manti Te’o, Falcons linebacker O’Brien Schofield and other NFL players will provide instruction to the campers.