Andrew Luck and his classmates studied Columbus in his architecture classes at Stanford.
On Saturday, the Indianapolis Colts quarterback had a chance to see some of city’s architectural gems in person. He was in town for one of his Change the Play camps, which was conducted at Columbus North High School.
“As an architecture student, I was driving into town sort of craning my neck at some of the churches and the mid-century modern mecca that is Columbus, Indiana,” Luck said. “In school, we studied Columbus, Indiana, when we studied architecture, so I’m due to make an architecture tour down here someday.”
On Saturday, most of Luck’s touring was done around the football field at North. More than 100 kids each in a late-morning and an early-afternoon session went through stations led by Luck, as well as Indiana University athletes, Columbus North athletes and workers from Riley Children’s Hospital, which sponsored the camp.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
Soon after Luck, the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, came to Indianapolis, he contacted Riley Children’s Hospital. They developed “Change the Play,” and the following year, began putting on Change the Play camps around the state.
The camp has been to Evansville, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Indianapolis, Bloomington and West Lafayette, but Saturday was the first one in Columbus.
“It was fun and active, and I got to see Andrew,” said Caleb Wright of Columbus, who took part in the camp.
Dr. Paul Haut, chief medical officer at Riley Hospital for Children, said he and Luck designed parts of the Change the Play program together. Besides the physical component, the program focuses on eating healthy.
Haut said Luck doesn’t just show up to meetings, he helps frame the concepts and carries it right to the kids.
“We’re fortunate to have someone like Andrew Luck who really helps us carry our mission of not only treating the sickest kids in the state, but really working on health, wellness and prevention of illness,” Haut said. “Our mission is to serve all the kids in the state, and this is a great way to do that.”
Luck did not actually do any throwing during the camp, leaving that instead to four Indiana University quarterbacks, including incumbent starter Richard Lagow. Luck still is recovering from surgery in January to repair a partially-torn labrum in his right shoulder.
Luck said that while rehab is going well, he doesn’t have a timetable for when he might start throwing again.
“My focus is literally on the next session of rehab, and that’s the way in my mind I have to do it, or else I think things get a little too big,” Luck said. “It’s a long, patient process. It’s good when you’re surrounded by really good people — doctors, trainers, staff, everybody.”
The Colts begin mini-camp this week. They’ve missed the playoffs the past two seasons after making it in Luck’s first three years with the team.
Luck is hopeful the team can get back to the playoffs this season.
“The NFL is always tough,” Luck said. “We understand we haven’t been as good as we’ve wanted the past couple of years, and we have a lot of work to do. We’ll sort of take it practice by practice, meeting by meeting, and we’ll hopefully keep getting better and better and we’ll go up and see what happens in the games.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”At a glance” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
For more information about Change the Play or its camps, visit rileychildrens.org/changetheplay or follow @rileychildrens on Twitter.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
