LUMBERTON — Between the former college players and longtime high school coaches, there was no shortage of knowledge of the game of football at the Robeson County Parks and Recreation youth football camp on Thursday at the Ray Pennington Athletic Complex.
Damian Whitaker, a former football player at UNCP and Western Carolina, helped organize the event with Anthony Govan of the parks and recreation department and welcomed a group of nearly 40 fifth through eighth graders to the camp. Among those aiding in drills and teaching were many that Whitaker recruited to bring a different aspect to the camp.
“We wanted to help uplift each other and the coaching working together was a big part of it,” Whitaker said. “They were showing them the example of what we want and what they needed to do.”
To the surprise of Whitaker, the turnout and showing the players had in the heat for three hours on Thursday far exceeded his thoughts coming in.
“It turned out better than I expected. I didn’t expect to get this much participation with a lot of kids having football camps,” Whitaker said. “The best thing about it was their attitudes. The kids were great. The work ethic was tremendous and the attention to detail was shocking to me because I didn’t expect them to be so on point with everything.”
One coach brought in just for Thursday of the two-day camp was former Purnell Swett and Fairmont football coach Mark Heil. After retiring from coaching in 2016, Heil said he enjoyed being back out in the heat coaching players.
“I do miss the relationship between the players and the coaches,” Heil said. “These kids are out here in 90-plus degree weather trying to learn the game and that’s what I emphasized to them that it’s a commitment. You’re going to be in the weight room, you’re going to have coaches breathing down your neck and sometimes football is not fun. It’s about making a commitment and how that will eventually carry over to their regular life.”
Thursday was more than a camp, but also a reunion for Heil, with several former players from Purnell Swett at the camp, bringing their children as well to participate in the camp.
“It’s great to see generations of football players that just keep on coming,” Heil said.
Thomas Oxendine was one of those former players of Heil and his son Josiah participated in the camp on Thursday. Josiah is a rising seventh-grader and said that his father had told him of Heil and what they accomplished in high school.
“Coach Heil is a great coach and he was telling me about how they beat Richmond, who was one of the top teams in the conference,” Josiah said. “My dad played quarterback and a couple different positions.”
Like father, like son. Josiah has spent most of his summer going to quarterback camps and combines as he prepares for middle school. Thursday’s camp also brought more lessons for Josiah.
“They are just helping me to get better,” Josiah said. “I learned how to finish my throws and where my hand is supposed to be, to the pocket.”
Heil mentioned the eagerness for the group to learn as he worked mostly with the linemen group, focusing on their tackling form and the proper way to wrap up opponents with the new heads up tackling style. With a rules emphasis and a focus to head injuries in the sport, Heil said it was never too early to teach the right way to tackle.
“You need to start teaching them now how you need to have your head to the side, using the shoulder and always having the head up,” Heil said. “It’s not easy teaching tackling like that. The more they learn now, the easier it will be for them.”
