Russell Wilson Passing Camp

I would like to comment on my profound disappointment in this camp. My 9 year My 9 year old son, was beyond excited when we found out about the Russell Wilson passing camp. He talked about nothing else and sacrificed going to camp the week before in order to save enough money for the exorbitant price of $ 175 for 1 day. We all thought it was a great summer treat and he would get to meet Russell and have a signed memento.
Starting with the days’ beginning and there not even being a welcome greeting/​speech from Russell I knew the camp wouldn’t be the experience he had hoped for. Initially I was told there would be no signing of autographs. Later they changed their mind and said luckily there were not that many kids and Russell would sign the t-​shirts — What that meant is he lined up the kids and assembly-​lined R3 on the back of the t-​shirts.
Lunch: After the 300+ kids running around on the field with high-​school and club team coaches they went to lunch on the bleachers and a Q&A session with Russell. Instead of ensuring that every kids got his questions asked, Russell chose a few kids and then ended the Q&A. He then selected 5 kids for the «dance competition» The winner got a signed football. I liked the idea of the dance off — it was fun and a nice change of pace. But leaving out all but 5 kids was depressing. with the large amount of coaches on the field surely there was a way to involve all the kids. And … while the fortunate 5 were dancing and joking with Russell all the other kids were left sitting in the bleachers in the hot sun. No shade was provided — for the expense of the ticket and the number of corporate sponsors, I think the could of put of shade for the kids. I was left feeling empty and sad for my son.
Again at the end of the day he selected 5 or 6 kids for a passing contest, the rest were told to sit on the field and watch — in the baking sun for over 30 minutes!
After camp my son tried to approach Russell (as others did) he was blocked by the handlers and invoked the always disappointing culture of celebrity by disappearing with his entourage. It felt like a press junket, not a kids event where many had paid a small fortune to participate.
Back to the autograph: the t-​shirt signing was annoyingly assembly line. My son, who is such a huge fan, was really looking forward to getting an autograph. He looked at his shirt, as I heard many other kids say, «its not a signature, its an R3». Even if one could get past that, my son had hoped to hang the shirt and keep it forever but because Russell couldn’t be bothered to think about the kids and signed on the back, we are left debating «do we frame a giant t-​shirt that says Alaska Airlines and R3, or do we hang the front for memories sake and forget about the signature on the back». How do you explain the fraudulent and exploitative culture of celebrity to a 9 y/​o? How do you explain that a man who is about to sign one of the biggest contracts in NFL history finds it necessary to charge $ 175/​day so children can gaze at him from afar and then be charged close to $ 50.00 for photo’s of the memory.
the photos: The photos uploaded to smugmug, are so watermarked you cant even see the kids faces. So I am expected to pay an exorbitant fee for a photo with Russell and hope my kids expression is good — there were three to choose from — I have no idea what the difference is on all three. NOTE: its a digital download — so you still have to pay to get it printed.
There were major event sponsors, why do we have to be financially raked over the coals for this experience?
Here in LA we have Dodger camp. The baseball stars that show up freely interact with the kids, they all sign autographs on anything the kids bring and they get team photos. I would have expected something more like that from this one day camp.