Gibbs visits children at Bristow's Youth for Tomorrow facility

When Joe Gibbs comes to the Washington area for NASCAR and Redskins business, he often visits the Youth for Tomorrow campus in Bristow -- a residential and educational facility he estab-lished for at-risk children in 1986.

Most known for his motivational skills when leading football players or race car drivers, Gibbs used the same skills to encourage students who met with him during a recent visit.

"The worst thing you can do in life is throw things away," he said as he exhorted them to take advantage of the lessons the staff at the school provide. "The people who work here could be doing a lot of other things, but they chose to be here to help you achieve the goals you have set out to achieve. Listen to the people who care for you."

Gibbs discussed peer pressure with the students. He encouraged them not to model the behavior of some famous sports and music icons whose desire for instant gratification leads others to participate in acts that thrill for a few minutes that could destroy hope for their future.

"Some of the most important people in the world did their own thing, didn't follow the popular crowd and are very successful," he said.

Gibbs noted that on a recent skiing trip, a man approached him to tell him that a decade ago his son was at the Youth for Tomorrow for five months and thanked him for the difference that stay had made. He is now a successful businessman.

One of the students asked Gibbs if he had ever played football.

"I did play football in high school and college and had dreams of playing in the NFL until I realized that I wasn't big enough," he said.

Gibbs told the gathering that God showed him a different path and he was led into the coaching field. Before he landed the head coaching job with the Redskins, a job he called the opportunity of a lifetime, Gibbs paid his dues in the coaching field. He first volunteered to coach in college for no pay and worked his way through many assistant coaching jobs in college and the professional ranks before coming to Washington.

He gives God all of the credit for his opportunity to be a coach. "He picked a very ordinary person who had thrown some footballs and chased a few cars and blessed me by giving me those opportunities."

Gibbs told the students they could have a similar experience. "Look at the disciples Christ chose to follow him; they weren't kings or powerful people. They were ordinary men. If God's hand is in it, there is nothing you can't do."

When the students were asked if there was anything they would like him to do, one young man said, "Yes, bring Clinton Portis and Jason Campbell out here."

A student who had been at the campus for five months said, "This is a dream come true. My dad will flip when he hears that I met Joe Gibbs.

Staff writer Bennie Scarton Jr. can be reached at 703-369-6707.