Football clinic focuses on the basics
Rodney McKoy started Twin City Football Clinic three years ago and the camp has seen tremendous growth since then.
Teaching kids the basics of football at a young age shows them the correct technique to play the game, which in turn may prevent future injuries. Twin City Football recently held a clinic for players ages 5 through 14, which was free of charge for all kids.
According to Rodney McKoy, clinic organizer, the clinic has been running for the past three years. McKoy has an extensive background in coaching and decided to develop the clinic by chance.
“It actually started by accident because I sat out the 2014 year from coaching and Nard Green of the Tiny Indians asked me to do a clinic for his team,” said McKoy. “It started off small but because I didn’t want to do anything halfway, I asked people to volunteer and donate money so I could do it the right way.”
“The first year we did it, we had over 200 kids at the Tiny Indians field. It got so huge last year I had over 250 kids. I never intended for it to be this big. I only did it because they asked me to.
McKoy says they had so many kids come out last year, they decided to have two camps this year. “We had 90 kids show up at our start up camp, and it was a huge success,” said McKoy.
During the first camp, McKoy says the kids focus on the fundamentals and the basics.
“For ages 5 through 9, we concentrate just teaching them the basics, like a three- and four-point stance, backpedaling and learning how to tackle without using your head,” he said. “We teach the older kids position specific skills.”
The start up camp was put together just to bring more attention to the bigger camp McKoy held earlier this week.
“What I did was take the start up camp and make that first to draw people to that one that have not come to the previous ones in years past,” he said.
McKoy, a graduate of Carver High School and Winston-Salem State University, says he loves to give back to the city that has done so much for him. He feels it’s only right to share his knowledge with the next generation.
“I took an awful lot out of Winston-Salem, so I owe this community a lot,” said McKoy. “It didn’t take me a second thought to figure out how to give back to a place that I took so much from.”
“Twin City was the appropriate name because I grew up playing Twin City baseball. This is my way of saying I owe a lot and I want to give a lot.”
Going forward, McKoy says he would like to expand the camp. He has been approached by someone from Durham to bring the camp there as well.
