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| Eighth grader Brandon Magee fires off the ball to take a handoff during camp. |
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July 20, 2010 - COVINGTON
The word "Kids" was removed from the ninth annual football camp that brings together youngsters from the second grade through the senior football players. The reason, the football camp has evolved with each year.
"It's really more than a camp for kids," said Covington coach Dave Miller. "The camp brings every level of our program together - from the Little Buccs, to junior high and high school. Really, this is the only time we can bring everyone together for a significant amount of time."
And Miller had a plan to make better use of the time he had with each age group.
"In the past we were pretty much teaching the kids a little bit about each position (on the field)," he said. "We still did that to some extent, but we did more with breaking down into positions. We allowed kids to pick a position they wanted to play and spend more time teaching that. It gave us more time to not only teach them the fundamentals, but it gave the kids more opportunities to work on the execution."
The high school players primarily provided instruction to the grade school campers, but also had the flexibility to help out the junior high players as well. Plus, the high school and junior high coaches were able to give significant time working with the junior high program, providing instruction on the same techniques used by the varsity Buccaneers.
"That's big," said Miller. "A lot of the things the junior high kids worked on will be the same things they'll do when the get into high school. Hopefully they can take the instruction they received at camp and build on it the rest of the year."
The success of the camp was evident in the numbers as a record 92 youngsters in grades second through eight participated and over 20 high school players provided instruction.
And they all showed up under intense heat.
"It was hot, but I felt the kids dealt with it pretty good," Miller said. "Especially the younger kids. They seemed unfazed by the heat."
Which made for a competitive atmosphere in the skill competitions and seven-on-seven scrimmages.
Grades second through sixth were tested in the 40-yard dash, passing distance, kicking distance, punting distance and kicking accuracy, while the junior high players were tested in an obstacle course.
And through it all, Miller got so see the future of the program as the majority of those participating will suit up this fall. By all indications, nearly 140 kids will be in a Covington Buccaneer uniform this fall from Little Buccs through high school.
"Other than the second graders, most of these kids will be playing this fall," said Miller. "It's pretty neat to see nearly every hand raise when I ask them who has signed up to play football this year."
The numbers are improving and a lot of it has to do with the annual football camp.
