Just another spectacular summer for Henry County Sheriff’s Office Director of Community Relations, Dr. Shaquille O’Neal. The NBA legend, Atlanta resident, and honorary officer in the sheriff’s department has made the summers for the student-athletes of the local schools worthwhile through his sports camp. The 2024 HCSO and Shaquille O’Neal Sports Spectacular Summer Camp wrapped last week successfully. And Shaq’s grateful to all the people involved in growing and organizing his third annual event for kids.

He took to Instagram to express his gratitude to everyone who participated in the camp with a heartfelt message. “My Sports Spectacular Summer Camp was the highlight of the summer. Teaming up with the Henry County Sheriff’s Office, we put together a week full of sports and community events for middle and high school athletes. Thank you to Sheriff Reginald B Scandrett and the coaches who helped make this week special. Shout out to @MercyChefs for closing out the camp with a delicious lunch and backpacks full of food for the participants. The most important thing we can teach our youth is to value their worth and be team players.”

Mercy Chef is a nonprofit dedicated to providing nutritious meals in times of crisis or to the underprivileged. As part of their Summer Huddle initiative, they collaborated with Shaq to provide a healthy meal on the last day of the camp that was held at Woodland High in Stockbridge. They reciprocated Shaq’s gratitude as well as thankful to the Sheriff’s Office for involving them.

Along with lunch, Mercy Chefs provided backpacks full of nutritional snacks for the campers to take home. These backpacks will come in very handy when these students head back to school. And that’s not all Shaq had in store for them.

Academy Sports donated equipment to Shaq’s camp and he, in turn, gave $250 to 20 kids to go on a shopping spree at the store before the camp began. The camp began with the Atlanta Vibe Pro Volleyball Team kicking off the girls’ volleyball event. Leading the boys’ football camp was former UGA star Travis Stroud.

It’s not clear if Shaq was dishing dunking lessons at the camp but he was definitely there. His social media updates show the ‘Big Kid’ fit right in with the real kids. Just like his larger-than-life personality, this camp has only gotten bigger and better.

Shaquille O’Neal’s Spectacular camp gets more spectacular

In 2022, shortly after he was announced to his role as a community relations director, Shaq and Sherrif Scandrett hosted the Sports Spectacular at McDonough High School. That year, they had four youth sports for three days for kids from grades 3 to 8. He’d bring it back for a second time in 2023 at Dutchtown High School.

The 2023 edition brought former Atlanta Falcons wide receiver, Roddy White, to lead the football camp. Shaq himself led the basketball camp. Former Atlanta Braves star, Otis Nixon held the baseball camp and the Endurance volleyball coach, Raven Prather, trained kids for volleyball.

Atlanta’s celebrities and organizations clearly don’t want to be left out of Shaq’s brilliant summer initiative. Next on Shaq’s agenda – planning the 2024 camp.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.