Fil-Am NFL player Camryn Bynum holds Cebu camp

MANILA, Philippines – Camryn Bynum is a budding star in the National Football League, playing for Minnesota. 

The Filipino-American Vikings safety has been making heads turn with his stellar play throughout the 2023 season, and the pundits are expecting even more in the coming years.

He was in the sports headlines last season after he had two interceptions in a Monday Night Football Game versus the San Francisco 49ers. During the post-game interview, he bared to the world that his wife has been denied a visa to the United States, and he made an appeal on television to anyone that could help expedite her approval. The request went viral, and a few weeks after, she was granted a tourist visa, and the couple were finally reunited.

Cam is in town and has a two-day football camp in Cebu this weekend. He had a brief chat with Real Sports Scene before his flight down south. 

Talk about the two-day camp in Cebu this weekend.

Cam: It’s going to be “Volume 2” of our American Football Camp that we put on in the Philippines. We had one in Manila last year, around 165 players, about 50 volunteers helping coach, helping set up, so really just putting up a community event to bring the sport to this country. The word around was to bring it to Cebu this year, saying the football community there is pretty big so we’re doing that now.

You also have a Bynum Faith Foundation, what are its objectives?

Cam: Our foundation started in our church originally, the New Life Community Care Foundation. They showed us the ropes of serving and doing everything with the Filipino community, so that was the original heart of the Bynum Faith Foundation. We started off with relief for typhoon victims and victims of basic poverty, so we’ve started our foundation to be able to do the same thing here in the Philippines and also back in the States, where I am living for half of the year. My foundation helps carry their burdens. 

Where did this desire to help the less fortunate come about?

Cam: This has really been a goal of mine. My wife and I have always talked about doing something big in the Philippines and being able to help our community, and once I made it to the NFL, it opened my eyes to see there’s a lot of things going on besides in America. We get so wrapped up in our country, my Filipino community they hurt from typhoons and other disasters that come, so that started my heart for it all. I was glad that I got that wake-up call and see that I can help. Even being just 25 years old, I can start, and be able to do this for the rest of my life.

I heard Elijah Hicks will be joining you for this event? 

Cam: Yes, Elijah and my other teammate, Jaylen Hawkins, so adding two more NFL players, they’re two of my closest friends, and we went to college for four years together. We couldn’t have done this without each other, so having more NFL players to bring more recognition and more knowledge here to the Philippines is huge. That’s a full circle moment for me and Elijah coz we were roommates, we worked so hard to get here and we always had a goal of giving back to the people that helped us and just people over-all.

Is this something you will be doing yearly?

Cam: Yes, we plan on doing more than one per year! We’ll be back in Manila for another one in June. Whenever we have the time to plan, and time to get resources to be able to put on a camp, we will do it. That’s why I didn’t name it “First Annual” or “Second Annual”, we want to do more than one a year, so that’s where the mindset of “Volume 1” and “Volume 2” came around.

Looking ahead, what are you and the Vikings planning for the coming season?

Cam: We just look forward to just playing again! Offseason, you’re itching to get back onto the field and especially after last season, coming up short. We want to come in, win our division, make the playoffs, and go to the Super Bowl. That’s everyone’s goal. 

But it has to start small with your offseason training. My mindset isn’t even thinking about season quite yet, I’m just thinking of how I can get better during this off season, and find things to improve on. Over-all, I’m excited for the season, making the post season, and making it the Super Bowl, that’s the goal and we don’t want to settle for anything else.