CAMDEN — The Preble Shawnee High School football program, along with Wee Arrows program, hosted a free football camp for youth at the Camden Fields, July 9-10.
The two-day camp for youths who wish to participate in pee-wee football this fall took part in basic fundamental drills to sharpen their games. Coaches and players of the Preble Shawnee Arrows football team ran the operation, while the concession stand at the old football field was open for family and friends who sat in the fields to watch their children have fun.
Darren Pew, President of the Wee Arrows Pee-wee Football program spoke during the camp.
“We got together with the high school team to get involved with the pee-wee program and build it from the ground up,” said Pew. “Head varsity coach Matt Hopkins got with us and thought it would be a good idea to do this. He agreed to put on a camp and for the price of the pee-wee registration, they get to participate in the two day camp.”
Pew continued, “We want to get more kids acclimated at an early age so that by the time they reach high school age, they are fully prepared and have the experience necessary. There are no donors or sponsors involved, we run this program a bit differently than most others. We appropriated funds that we bring in from fund raisers and from concessions and reorganized the whole organization and made it possible to make this happen. The cheaper we can make this for the kids, the better.”
“With the fear of concussions being highly publicized by the NFL, the numbers have been down for programs in the county,” Pew said. “But the Wee Arrows have been steady so far. Right about 90 kids, so about 15 per team. We’d like more, but we are a small community.”
