Every July, the country’s top gridiron warriors hit the turf to go through that rigorous gut check known as NFL training camp.

Every June in Waco, Central Texas’ pint-sized football dreamers get their own version in Camp LT.

LaDainian Tomlinson, the Waco-bred future Hall of Fame running back for the San Diego Chargers, returns home today for his eighth annual football camp at Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium.

CAMP LT

When: Today-Wednesday

Where: Floyd Casey Stadium

On the Web: camplt.com

Cost: $10 for LT Challenge (grades K-5), $200-$250 for Freshman (6-8) and Letterman (9-12) camps

Young football players break from a huddle during last year's Camp LT. (Rod Aydelotte photo, file)

---

And if this year’s camp is like any of the seven that preceded it, it won’t be a summer vacation for the campers.

Imagine dozens of junior high and high school-aged boys bellowing “Hard work pays off!” — the camp’s annual battle cry — 30 times a day, then making sure that the words ring true by enduring three practices and multiple classroom sessions each day.

“We try to instill in these kids out here that if you work hard, you can make something of yourself,” Tomlinson said during the 2008 camp. “I know, because I can still remember sitting in their shoes.”

While the four-day camp is open to students aged 11 to 18, Camp LT also offers the “LT Challenge” for kids in kindergarten through fifth grade at a cost of $10 per child. Registration for the LT Challenge starts at 11 a.m. today, and the camp ends at 2:30.

Registration for the Freshman (grades 6-8) and Letterman (grades 9-12) camps will run from 1 to 4 p.m. today at Floyd Casey. The cost for both camps is $250 for overnight campers and $200 for commuters. Registration and medical release forms can be downloaded at www.camplt.com.

Tomlinson routinely calls on a litany of NFL players to serve as special guest speakers during the week. As of Saturday afternoon, camp director Derrick Scott said he was unsure of which pros would participate this week.

Scott and several of the camp organizers just completed the Fort Worth version of Camp LT on Saturday.