Football 101 Set for June 1

Lincoln ? Coach Callahan Charities, Inc., has announced the date of the fourth-annual Football 101 for Women. The charity event will be held on Friday, June 1. The proceeds from the one-day event will go toward the support of breast cancer research.

Last year’s event attracted over 1,000 women from 14 states and raised $55,000 for breast cancer research. In 2007, proceeds from the event will again benefit the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center in Omaha.

The clinic activities are interactive learning experiences, focused on women, covering all aspects of football. Coach Callahan and his staff will teach all sessions of the clinic, which will involve active crowd participation.

All events will take place in the new Hawks Championship Center in Lincoln on Friday, June 1, beginning at 10 a.m. Registration is from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Hawks Championship Center, and all activities are expected to conclude at 5 p.m. Pre-registration is required and open to the first 1,100 to sign-up. Participants are encouraged to register via credit card on-line at www.coachcallahancharities.org beginning immediately. Entry forms may also be mailed with a check.

After the event, Football 101 participants and a guest may join the coaches, staff, and their families at the exclusive "Do the Dock" tailgate party at Embassy Suites Hotel. For a small entry fee of $5, guests may talk with the coaches and staff, enjoy live entertainment, and extend this unique Nebraska Football learning experience. Vendors will be selling food and beverages.

The registration fee for Coach Callahan’s Football 101 for Women is $80. This fee includes clinic participation, general admission lunch seating and a gift bag, which includes a Football 101 T-shirt, "Hope" wrist band and College Football Rules packet. All participants will also have the opportunity to win Husker items by participating in a raffle. Hotel room reservations at the Embassy Suites Hotel may be made at a reduced rate as part of the Football 101 block. Rates are not included in the entry fee.

A limited number of reserved lunch tables will be sold for $1,000 each. Each Premium Table includes eight full registrations, reserved seating for lunch with a coach, and 16 tickets for the "Do the Dock" event.

Coach Callahan’s wife, Valerie, will kick off the event at 10 a.m. The morning discussions will be led by Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson, Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove and Special Teams Coach Bill Busch. Current and former players will also present a player forum on the life of a student-athlete. At "halftime," participants will enjoy a catered lunch in the stadium. Following lunch, a highlight of the day is the Tunnel Walk onto the field. While on the field, coaches will present a strength and performance demonstration.

For the "second half," the participants will split into three groups according to previous football knowledge. Options for a more in-depth look at Husker Football include Redshirt (beginners), Special Teams (intermediate), or Starters (advanced). The evening will conclude with closing comments by Coach Callahan.

Proceeds from Football 101 for Women will go toward research, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and will provide scholarship funding to future researchers. In three years, Coach Callahan Charities has donated more than $150,000 for this worthy cause.

This year, proceeds will again go to the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center in Omaha. The Eppley Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated Cancer Center in Nebraska, and a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), an alliance of 19 of the world’s leading cancer centers that develop standards and set guidelines for treating patients.

The Eppley Cancer Center, which has over 200 members at UNMC, UNL, and UNO, is committed to discovering causes of cancer and developing novel therapies for treating and also preventing cancer. The Eppley Cancer Center also has a cancer research training program that provides graduate students and post-doctoral fellows with the opportunity to obtain advanced training in a multidisciplinary environment. Many of these students have earned their undergraduate degrees from UNL.

To register, participants should visit www.CoachCallahanCharities.org and utilize the secure electronic registration and credit card payment option. Those interested may also send in written entry forms with a check to Coach Callahan Charities, Inc., P.O. Box 81467, Lincoln, Neb, 68501-1467. For more information, please call (402) 770-9273 or e-mail questions to ccc@coachcallahancharities.org.