Yesterday, the first inaugural Carriker Chronicles Football Camp took place. Nearly 400 people took part in the event, from parents, campers, coaches, and staff, the LYF Football fields were packed. A total of 260 kids participated in this year’s camp, which is impressive considering it was held on a Wednesday and not a weekend. We got extremely lucky with how the weather played out; what looked like it was going to be severe storms for the longest time turned into a beautiful sunny day in the mid-80s with a nice, slight breeze. You couldn’t ask for a better day in July.
The camp had 260 campers ranging in age from kindergarten to the 8th grade. Each kid went through a total of 8 rotations, learning new skills, techniques, fundamentals, and even a few life lessons along the way. The kids learned from the best of the best, whether it was quarterback drills with Eric Crouch, running back drills with Ahman Green, or any of the other amazing coaches with decades of experience in playing or coaching who volunteered their time.
After the kids went through their eight rotations, they played 7-on-7 games for roughly 30 minutes. Everyone got to see playing time and surely made memories that will stick with them for a while. After the exciting 7-on-7 games, the campers were split into two groups: one group would start participating in an NFL-style combine, the other group would start getting some autographs. When the campers were done, they would rotate from autographs to combine and vice versa. When both groups were done, five coaches (Ahman Green, Eric Crouch, Zach Wiegert, Kenny Wilhite, and Adam Carriker) presented five MVP footballs to the campers they believed had listened, remembered, and performed the best throughout the day.
Overall, the camp went smoothly, ran on time, and we had beautiful weather. Most importantly, the kids had fun, which is what the camp was all about. I’m sure a lot of teachers will hear all about it when they ask their new group of students what they did this summer. We learned many things this year, and we can promise next year’s camp will be bigger and better. Although the camp just ended, we have loads of new ideas and concepts already planned for next year. What are they? Well, you’ll just have to come to camp next summer, and until then, don’t forget that success is a habit and of course…to throw the bones!