Smashing Success Building Fundamentals

PRAIRIE GROVE -- Last week's Prairie Grove's summer pee wee football camp turned into a smashing success for those who enjoy "smashmouth football," including coaches, participants and parents on hand to observe.

That's a good thing for a football program being bumped up from Class 4A to 5A by the Arkansas Activities Association for the 2022-2024 cycle.

Although there was no full-contact, boys entering grades 1-7 got to try their hand at practicing a variety of basic football skills. They tackled a dummy, learned footwork, practiced agility by rolling out of a bear crawl, sprinted and engaged in punt, pass and kicking competitions.

According to camp director John Elder, who is junior high head football coach, a total of 85 kids came out for each session. Sessions for grades 1-3 were held Monday through Wednesday for two hours followed by grades 4-7 also for two hours at Prairie Grove's Tiger Stadium.

"We had a great turnout this year," Elder said.

Coaches emphasized maximizing individual effort going all-out during sprints, and not to be disappointed if a teammate outruns them.

"Remember only one can be the fastest, but everyone can run as hard as you can. That's how we win games," said Defensive Coordinator Craig Laird.

Coming in first by classes were: Carter Lisir, fourth grade; Brody Gunther, fifth grade; Semmie Gunther, sixth grade; and Brody Williamson, seventh grade.

Semmie Gunther showed good acceleration, winning easily even though he took a bit of a diagonal angle, prompting coach Mason Pinkley to say, "He smoked them by a country mile."

Henry Stephens, a rising fifth grader, wore a professional football t-shirt from another team while admitting his favorite NFL franchise is the Kansas City Chiefs. Henry expressed gratitude to his parents, Jason and Tuesday Stephens, for allowing him to participate in the camp.

"It toughens you up a lot and I just want to say 'thank you' to my parents," Henry said.

Another rising fifth grader, Mason Love, said, "It's awesome," and said he was learning football skills like "throwing, punting, kicking."

Their classmate, Jackson Bryant, agreed with benefits of "hands on" football activity provided by the camp, which focused on building basic fundamentals for all positions through position-specific drills and endeavored to teach campers how to practice with intensity.

"I think the camp's good for a bunch of kids our age. If you like football it's good to come do this," Jackson said. "You know it's just something during the summer that in the off-season not many kids get to come do this, but if you can I think it's a good thing to do over the summer."

Noah Barnes was among the rising fifth graders, enjoying learning proper football techniques by engaging in agility drills.

"I think this camp is really fun and people who can come should come because it's just really fun at all the stations," Noah said.

Awards were given in many categories and participants received a camp T-shirt.