Gridiron gang : Fayetteville High coaches offer instruction to members of local youth football league
Posted on Sunday, August 17, 2008
ANTHONY REYES Northwest Arkansas Times Fayetteville head football coach Daryl Patton talks to the campers during the Boys and Girls Club youth football camp Saturday at Harmon Field in Fayetteville.
Harmon Field was awash with activity Saturday morning during the Junior Bulldog Classic Football Clinic sponsored by the Fayetteville Metro Kiwanis Club and Signature Bank.
Assistant coaches for the Fayetteville High football team were dispersed across six different stations, teaching the fundamentals to a group of second through seventh graders who are preparing for the upcoming season in the Donald W. Reynolds Boys and Girls Club Tackle Football League.
Sophomore offensive line coach John Proffitt administered the shoot drill, showing players the proper blocking techniques. Defensive backs coach Rory Heimsoth gave a tutorial on how to back peddle in the secondary. Defensive coordinator Wendell Harris manned the blaster apparatus, simulating the traffic defensive linemen and linebackers have to sift through at the line of scrimmage.
Defensive ends coach Jeff Carter offered instruction on disengaging from blocks. Linebackers coach Tim Miller worked the speed ladder, a device that improves footwork, and sophomore offensive coordinator Jesse Wilson showed the players a series of rudimentary pass routes.
The Fayetteville High coaching staff is closely linked with the Boys and Girls Club. They devised the playbook for the club's 7-on-7 league earlier this summer, said David Camp, the Boys and Girls Club's recreation coordinator. Camp said fun and instruction are the league's primary mission. It has the secondary goal of grow- ing football at the grass roots level. Many players at Saturday's clinic could be future members of the high school's football team.
"The Fayetteville coaches enjoy that our purpose is to send players through so they can be successful when they get to [high school ]," Camp said. "They're also very willing to help us, because the community is very important to them as well. We've developed a great relationship with them over the years."
Fayetteville head coach Daryl Patton said he and his staff have a symbiotic relationship with the Boys and Girls Club. The coaches lend their time and energy, and the club's tackle football league reciprocates by fostering enthusiasm for the game. Players who develop a passion for football at the Boys and Girls Club have the potential to take that ardor with them to the high school level.
Patton and his staff began administering the clinic when he took the Fayetteville job in 2003. He estimated that 300 children were present Saturday morning during the second through fifth grade session.
"It's a way for us to give back to the city of Fayetteville and the Boys and Girls Club," Patton said. "They do a great job of getting our kids involved and excited about the game of football. What we try to do is get them out here on the turf and let them get to know our coaches. We can kind of start building relationships."
The tackle football league opens play Sept. 13, with teams practicing three times a week during the run up to the season. The league's open to kindergartners through seventh graders. The kindergartners through first graders play five-onfive touch football, and the older members of the league play full-sided tackle football. The clinic was open to anyone who had signed up for the league.
"We have well over 600 people signed up this year," Camp said. "That seems to stay pretty consistent year in and year out."
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