By Matt de Simone
Lord Botetourt football will present a youth football camp on July 25 and 26 at the high school football field. The camp will teach football techniques and drills with past and current Lord Botetourt football players.
“[Lord Botetourt] kids are going to get out there and work with the younger kids on fundamental football-related stuff,” Lord Botetourt football head coach Jamie Harless explained in a recent interview.
Lord Botetourt hasn’t produced a youth summer football camp in some time. The LB football team starts practice on July 28. The youth camp is a great way to prepare younger and older players for their upcoming seasons. Harless explained this year’s camp is more of a return to the football camps held in Botetourt years ago. Lord Botetourt and James River high schools produce their respective football camps at the end of the month with help from parents and other volunteers.
“A lot of [the reason for the camp] is a revival type of thing. We haven’t had a [football camp] in a long time.
“I don’t think people realize how much goes into the preparation to get a kid to be good at playing football. It’s not one of those things where you go out and just show up– there’s got to be enough time and effort put into it. I hadn’t been contacted by anybody at the rec department about a youth camp, so we decided to do one on our own. At some point, we got to work on trying to promote the game of football.”
LB alumni and current Virginia Tech Assistant Defensive Backs Coach Alex Hampton will serve as a guest speaker working directly with the campers on Monday. The next day, Virginia Tech Special Assistant to the Athletics Director and former Defensive Coordinator Bud Foster will take time to speak with LB football campers.
The camp will also feature appearances from Greg Roberts, the Appalachian Prep Combine who prepares student-athletes for the next level of the games, and Carl York from crunchsports.com, who reports on high school sports in Southwest Virginia.
“What’s great is that we have a lot of [graduates coming in] from out of town that are doing well in college. I think, right now, we have 30 [Lord Botetourt] alumni that will be playing collegiate football in the fall. We have a community with a lot of really good, hard-working people. I think a lot of those folks and the kids themselves understand, systematically, that if you work hard over a long period of time, you’re going to reap some major benefits from that. I really believe the kids bought into that over the years, and that’s what’s allowed us to produce [a successful high school football program].”
At the time of the interview, Harless said that there were approximately 150 kids signed up for the camp, with more expected to sign up over the next week.
Harless praised the Lord Botetourt Touchdown Club’s efforts in the offseason. This season, the football team will debut a new uniform design. The Touchdown Club’s fundraising efforts in the offseason helped get the team their new jerseys.
The Lord Botetourt football and cheerleading teams will hold a Pancake Breakfast event at the high school this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. The event will also have pre-registration for the camp for those who wish to sign up.
Additionally, the LB football/cheer will have a mini concession table, and the athletic trainer will offer snow cones during the warm nights of the football camp. The funds for snow cones will go straight to the athletic training department.
To learn more and sign up for LB’s youth football camp, please visit cavfootball.net.
