The boys went to a week of football camp at William Patterson University in New Jersey for their second football camp of the summer. It was put on by Sports International. Jack went to this camp last year and really got a lot out of it.
Although this camp wasn’t full contact (it was “live to the ball” — in other words, blocking was live, but they weren’t supposed to tackle anyone and bring them to the ground), I think they learned much much more than in the other camp they went to.
The first half of the first day is a specialty clinic (extra fee.) Jack did linebacker and Owen did offensive line. For Jack, it was the best four hours of football coaching he’s had in a year. He was the youngest in his group by at least three years. Most of the group were high school players. His group went non-stop with only a very few brief water breaks.
The group of about nine was serious, focused and hard working. There was no messing around and clearly they were all motivated — and talented — players. They worked on sophisticated drills and Jack learned A LOT. He was in heaven.
Owen had a great specialty session too, but it was a bit tougher for him because he is so tiny. He had to workout with (comparatively) behemoth-sized players. Although he knows proper, state-of-the-art lineman technique, sometimes he gets sloppy because of the sheer effort of going against someone 70 pounds heavier.
Once they moved into the regular camp sessions, the boys were in the 10-and-under group of about 50 kids. This camp isn’t focused on a single game at the end of the week. They worked offense in the mornings and defense in the afternoons. The majority of the session was in the position groups (Jack did running back/linebacker and Owen did offensive line/linebacker.) They worked very carefully on specific sets of skills. The coaches were great…they knew all the kids’ names and were very demanding that the techniques be performed correctly.
After the position drills, they merged into small groups, for example, a couple linemen, quarterback and running back, or a quarterback and a couple receivers, etc. They spend some time working on plays and techniques in their small groups. Finally, during the last 15 minutes or so of the session, they did a little bit of scrimmaging in order to run full plays at speed.
Another feature of this camp that the boys loved was that there were NFL players there everyday that they could interact with. From the Jets, the boys heard from and met: Wesley Walker, Jerrico Cotchery and Jamaal Westerman (a rookie free agent from Rutgers that the boys had watched when they went to Rugters games). From the Giants, there was Madison Hedgecock, Barry Cofield and someone else I can’t remember right now.
The players would give a short talk (work hard in school, listen to your parents, don’t mess around at practice, choose your friends carefully) and then hang around for a while. Jerrico Cotchery, in particular, spent a lot of time at several different sessions actually working out with and coaching the boys.
Last year, as a nine-year-old, Jack won the outstanding player in camp award. This year, his goal was to win the award for the best linebacker (his favorite position). His hard work paid off. He won the award and many many compliments from coaches and parents who had watched him play all week.
Owen got a lot of compliments as well, and is eyeing a lineman award for next year. Their linebacker coach was especially complimentary and specifically sought me out on the last day of camp. He said, “I just wanted to tell you how great these two boys are. I’ve been braggin’ on them all week to the other coaches. I know we’re going to see them playing football on TV someday.”
Jack and Owen heard all that, and they just beamed with pride.
Photos are here from this year’s camp.
Photos are here of Jack at last year’s camp.
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