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We rocked out every day at Jets West Camp in California. Mark Sanchez came up with the idea to get all the skill position players together for a week to better our passing game. We have one hell of a receiving corps and we all went West to work on timing and all the small things that need to be done to make us a better offense.

It was myself, Mark, Santonio Holmes, Jerricho Cotchery, Aundrae Allison, Larry Taylor, Dustin Keller, Tony Richardson and Kevin O’Connell and our offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer also came out.

We stayed at Pelican Hill, a big resort right on the beach that Mark hooked us up with.

I think the camp really helped better every player there. It was a great chance to get a good workout with your teammates and work on some things. We ran the same routes over and over and over, every route we had in the playbook. We got in condition and perfected those routes while building timing and chemistry with the quarterback.

It was also my first time in LA, so that was super cool. We worked hard and at night we were able to sneak out and do some things, like go to the ESPYs, the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game.

I also want to talk about my trip to Ghana, which was a breathtaking experience and a once in a lifetime trip. Me and Santonio Holmes, as well as my PR team at J.O.C. PR Pros, left on July 19 from JFK for the 10-hour flight. We had a full schedule every day.

We visited an orphanage and donated $1,000 and about 15 duffel bags of clothing. We also donated clothes and $2,000 to a children’s hospital. We saw babies with malaria, babies with pneumonia, even one baby who had tubes all through his body. His mother gave birth to him and then just abandoned him at the hospital.

We also got to do some amazing sightseeing. We took a canopy walk on a ladder like 100 feet in the air. It was amazing. We went on a safari and saw random wild animals like antelope, elephant, crazy colorful birds and monkeys.

At the end of the week we set up a football game. That was one of the reasons we went to Ghana, to bring American football to the children. I took half of the kids and Santonio took half. There were no grass fields so we had to work out the kids on clay fields. We ran some drills, I taught them how to play the different positions, how to run routes, things like that.

Then my team played Santonio’s team and we worked it out so it was a tie. Everybody won. A couple of those kids were pretty good, one looked like Barry Sanders when he broke to the sidelines, shook off three guys and went for a 70-yard touchdown. Some of the kids said they wanted to learn a lot more about American football.

We also went to a place called Cape Coast in El Mina, a place the Dutch built as a slave dungeon that is now a tourist spot. We were able to go in and see the master’s bedrooms and the places where the slaves were held for punishment. One thing that touched me the most was the one caged area where they put the slaves who were in big trouble. Once you went in, you wouldn’t come out. They would put a slave in there and just not feed him. Once you went in, you knew that was the end of your life.

I sat in there for about 15 minutes. Santonio had to bring me back by telling me to get out of there.

We were in poor areas most of the trip. As beautiful as Africa is, the bad areas are horrific. People living in straw huts with no electricity, people sleeping in the streets, wearing the same clothes every day. It’s devastating to see people living like that. Poor areas over here are like suburbia compared to the poor people living in Ghana.

One incident I want to relate was that kids were out in the street playing soccer without any shoes on and we could feel the rocks through our shoes. One of the kids asked Santonio for his shoes and he just took them off and gave them to the kid. They were all black Air Force Ones and he had to go through the rest of the day, including dinner at someone’s house, without any shoes on. That just shows you his heart. He knew he would have to spend the rest of the day walking around in his socks.

It was pretty cool just being in Africa. Me and Santonio are now planning a trip to Kenya to go on safari, though that will be just for vacation this time.

It’s been a real busy summer but it’s all been charity and training, wherever I went. I’m hyped for this season to start so we can make another run at the Super Bowl. We have a couple of new weapons, with Santonio, LT, Cromartie. On offense and defense this year everybody is going to come to play.

I think our Week 1 opener against Baltimore will set the tone for the season. After we come out with a win we’re going to take the season step by step, one week at a time.

David Clowney is a wide receiver with the New York Jets. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.davidclowney87.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/davidclowney.