Earl Chambers hosts youth football camp at LaGrange College
Published 8:15 am Friday, July 29, 2022
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The annual Earl Chambers youth camp was back at LaGrange College on Thursday, but this time with a twist. What once cost around $150 for the two day camp, is now free. This is the first year the camp has been free and has seen the number of youth in the community grow exponentially.
“We wanted to do it for free this year to get as many kids out here as we possibly can,” Chambers said. “We want to get the community involved as much as possible”
The plan has worked so far as over 100 kids came out on the first day of camp on Thursday and Friday will see even more kids come out as Chambers said over 130 kids are registered for Friday. Boys and girls aged 8-14 flocked to Callaway Stadium on Thursday for a morning of fun. The camp lasted into the early afternoon as the rain stayed mostly at bay.
The early morning saw the campers work on their offensive skill sets.
“Early on we did an agility circuit and then we really dug into offensive play,” Chambers said. “We taught them a lot about offense today and we’ll focus on defense and special teams tomorrow.”
Once a.m. turned to p.m. the campers got to play Panther ball. The campers were divided up into groups where they played a couple games of two hand touch football on shortened fields.
“This is the most important part to [the campers]. They love playing Panther ball,” Chambers said. “This is something they can control and they just get to play football.”
One of the main reasons that the camp runs so smoothly is the help Chambers gets from his coaching staff and more importantly, the player. Players of all standings came out with a smile on their face as they got to help kids learn about the game that has given them so much in return. It was not just upperclassmen that came out to help facilitate the camp, it was underclassmen as well and Chambers was extremely pleased to see some of his freshmen take the initiative and come out to help.
“I know football is one of the sports where the athlete is not recognizable because of the helmet, but this is a way for the community to put a face with a jersey,” Chambers said.
This is the final Earl Chambers camp of the 2022 summer, and for once, the best was truly saved for last. Seeing young kids come out and enjoy their time with collegiate athletes and coaches is what sports is all about.
