Virgen: Sapolu’s Super Linemen Tournament returns to Costa Mesa with NFL Play 60
In football, it’s the “skill-position” players that usually get all the glory, even in the off-season. At clinics and passing tournaments, the competition level is at an all-time high and the action features highlight-reel-type plays and plenty of points for touchdowns.
Jesse Sapolu, a four-time Super Bowl champion who lives in Costa Mesa, wants to make sure the linemen get some love and have some fun of their own. The big guys use skill, too and they need to work at it during the off-season.
Sapolu sees a great opportunity and he thinks he’s onto something with his Super Lineman Tournament, which returns to Costa Mesa at Jim Scott Stadium on Saturday.
The Super Linemen Tournament, which features high school players, is in its third year. The first year had 97 players at the event. Sapolu says there are 350 athletes coming to Estancia High to show their stuff in the tournament, which has a point system for pass protection and pass rush competition.
“My goal is for this thing to be on ESPN,” Sapolu said.
The big guy is thinking big. The Super Linemen Tournament keeps getting bigger. Sapolu had to close registration, which was free, because 350 seems like a lot for a linemen tournament.
The one-day program also appears better as Sapolu has teamed up with the American Heart Assn. to host a free NFL Play 60 event for kids ages 9 to 14.
Sapolu is working on a roster of former NFL standouts to appear and help with the tournament judging.
Sapolu, a former 49er, is excited about the day, as the help he is receiving is meaningful to him. The City of Costa Mesa is also a part of the event. Sapolu had two sons who played at Costa Mesa High School.
Also, the American Heart Assn. is important to Sapolu. He is a heart disease survivor and he credits the AHA for saving his life. He contracted rheumatic fever when he was a 4-year-old in Samoa. Battling the fever left a tear in his heart valve and caused his heart to enlarge and grow weaker.
Sapolu, an 11th-draft choice, played for 15 years with the San Francisco 49ers with his heart condition. He has undergone two heart valve replacement surgeries.
Good health, especially at a young age, is something that is near to Sapolu’s rebuilt heart.
After Samoa, Sapolu said he grew up in the projects in Hawaii. He said his family could never afford to pay for football camps. That’s why he’s happy both the Super Linemen Tournament and NFL Play 60 are free events.
At the NFL Play 60 the youth learn about the importance of staying fit and are inspired to be physically active for at least 60 minutes every day.
Registration is available at www.superlinemen.com or when the event begins at 10 a.m. on Saturday. The program takes place from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The kids will be able to see the linemen tournament and watch Sapolu coach and teach the athletes.
“I wasn’t the biggest guy in the National Football League,” he said. “I was considered average size to smaller. But the difference between me and the 6-foot-5 guys that try to win the [center] position is that in front of 95,000 people I could pull the trigger. A lot of people look good in shorts. But when you feel like you’re under a 747, you can’t hear anything on the road, and you have to make the right call for the protection to protect Joe Montana, I was the guy that did it. I kind of create scenarios to teach kids to perform under that kind of pressure.”
