FilAm Camryn Bynum pays football success forward with outreach programs in PH | TFC News California
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A crucial member of the Minnesota Vikings defense team, Cameron Bynum performed so well as a starting safety in the last season that he was among select players to receive a bonus from the National Football League.
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He was drafted into the NFL in the middle of the pandemic in 2021, but football stardom was a path that did not come easy for the Filipino-American athlete.
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When did you first fall in love with football?
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Since I can remember, really as a kid, being 5, 6 years old, playing flag football, I wanted to be as good as possible.
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So growing up through high school, I wasn't always the best player.
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I found my coach, Coach Brown, and he really helped me fall in love with it through high school and really helped me take my game to the next level.
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There were years of struggles also in terms of finding your way into the NFL?
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Especially early in my high school years when I was behind, I was still a smaller kid.
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Before I hit my growth spurt, Ernie.
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So I was the smallest on the team, was like about 5th string on the junior varsity team in my sophomore year.
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And that's when a lot of players that are in the NFL now, a lot of them were the stars early in high school.
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And for me, that wasn't the case.
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So I had to really figure out my way.
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And thanks to my coach, he really found ways to make me better and make me fall in love with the technique and not just worry about athleticism.
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To football fans aware of Bynum's impressive tackling record, he's one of the league's rising stars.
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But to the Filipino kids he's helping in the Philippines, most times, he's simply Kuya Cam.
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I'm Kuya Cam out there, but people are starting to figure it out now.
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But it's cool because they're curious about the game of football.
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So one thing about Filipinos, they'll always be proud of anybody doing something in the spotlight.
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So I'm Kuya Cam still, but they're starting to realize, oh, football, that's what he does.
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Using his own resources, Bynum founded Camp BZ, a football camp in the Philippines where together with NFL friends,
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he teaches Filipino kids how to play the sport that he loves.
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He held a two-day camp in Cebu province where he and his foundation, Bynum Faith,
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also partnered with a local church and provided essential relief packs to people affected by a massive fire in Lapu-Lapu City.
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Especially during football season, you're around so much, which is a blessing.
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You're around a lot of people with a lot of money and people are always telling you how good you are.
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But being able to go there and serve people is really...
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Like you said, it keeps you grounded.
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So it's kind of nice to have the reset of just being a normal guy out there, but just being able to bless people.
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Bynum shares how being around so much extravagance in the NFL has made him even more determined to lead a simple life in the Philippines.
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The athlete grew up in Corona, California, about an hour away from Los Angeles.
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But now, Manila is where he can be found when he's not training or playing.
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I live there in the offseason.
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So during football season from August through January...
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I'm out in Minnesota, but other than that, I live in the Philippines.
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So it's kind of hard to tell because I've lived out there for almost two years now.
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So it's really been my home.
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This June, he will hold his third camp, BZ Football Camp, in the Philippines.
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Bynum says he aims to expand the work of his foundation and to seek partnerships in order to help even more Filipinos.
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Yong Chavez, ABS-CBN News, Fontana, California.
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Thank you for watching!
