WS Chronicle

In photo above: Campers at the S.T.A.R. Football camp apply the fundamentals learned earlier during football drills on Monday, July 6, 2015 at Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C. (Photo by Erin Mizelle for the Winston-Salem Chronicle)

By Tevin Stinson
The Chronicle

Student athletes from across the city gathered at Winston-Salem Preparatory Academy for the opening day of the “FUNdamentals” Football Clinic on Monday, July 6.

The free, three-day clinic, designed to introduce children to football by teaching basic skills in a fun and energetic environment, is supported through a grant from the NFL Foundation.
“FUNdamentals” incorporates a series of drills to teach passing, catching and running skills in a non-contact setting. All the drills selected for the camp are based on USA Football’s Player Progression Development Model.

The model was developed to ensure children are learning in an age appropriate manner, based on cognitive and physical maturity.
The age range covered is 5 to 18.

Campers were split into different groups by age and grade level.

Although football is the center of all the activities of the clinic, counselors make sure campers also learn lessons that can help them off the field.

Lamont Scales, head coach at Winston-Salem Prep, was a coordinator and counselor of the event.

He said that to learn the game of football, you must be disciplined and responsible.

“I think what we’re really trying to do is make sure the kids are more responsible and respectable, and try to get them to make the right decisions off the field,” Scales said.
Each day of camp, campers learned a character trait that could help them be more productive students and all-around people.

The theme of the first day of camp was responsibility, followed by leadership and determination on the remaining days of camp.

“We’re trying to get the campers to focus on how they carry themselves off the field, because that can determine how the carry themselves on the field.” Scales said.

Following the drills and the life lessons, campers got the chance to show off their skills in games of two-hand tag against other campers of the same age group.

While the younger camp-goers were just happy to be able to run around and be free, the older campers showed how intense the sport of football really is.

“At the end of the day, we want them to have fun,” Scales said. “We want them to learn something about life, and about football but as it’s on the front of the shirt, we’re all about fun out here.”

Beullah Williams of Winston-Salem said she came out to support the clinic because she thinks it is important that young men have positive male role models in their lives to teach them important life lessons.
“Everything they talk about during this camp will come into play later in their lives,” said Williams. “Responsibility, respect, and determination are all important life lessons that I am glad these men are teaching the younger males of this community. It’s very important that the younger kids have someone to look up to.”