PEA RIDGE — Blackhawk football players, from the youngest athletes to high school seniors and even alumni turned coaches, met on the school field this week to learn more about football and have fun.
“Arms up. Look mean!” yelled coach “E” - otherwise known as coach Matt Easterling, a Blackhawk graduate and coach - as he taught young athletes the proper stance for receiving. “You don’t catch the ball with your body, but with your hands and your eyeballs. Keep your eye on the ball.”
“Get that elbow up,” said coach John King, telling young athletes how to grab the ball during a hand-off.
“It’s something we always did when I was the assistant coach at Fayetteville and have been wanting to do here,” Tony Travis, head Blackhawk coach, said of the camp. “I have a lot of help. We have a great turn out. We’ll learn a little about football, get to know one another and have fun.”
About 75 boys from third- through sixthgrades turned out for the event.
Divided into four groups, they rotated to different coaches to learning skills for various positions - quarterback under coach Lafe Caton; wide receiver under coaches Easterling and Josh Reynolds; offensive linemen under coaches James Ortiz and Mark Woollard; and running backs under coaches King, Dickie Winn and John Johnson.
Winn, head of the Pea Ridge Youth Football League, said this is his last year ofleading the young Blackhawks, a position he has held for eight years since his oldest son began playing football. Johnson is the coach of the fifth-grade Blackhawks.
“We have about 150 this year,” Winn said of the young athletes. He said there are about 100 athletes in the fourth- through sixth-grades and 42 signed up for the second- and third-grade league. Last year was the biggest year with 168 players, Winn said, attributing the decrease to the addition of a soccer league in town.
“This is the first year ever that I’ve seen the Pea Ridge program so focused on building the program with seven-on-seven, weight lifting ... This is definitely a hard conference. We’re 64th of 68, one of the smallest teams in 4A,” Winn said.
Of coach Travis, Winn said: “You can’t help but like him and the overall coaching staff. We’re getting really excited about football. I believe - and not only me, but a lot of people - that our seventh-grade is one of the best junior high teams in the state.”
Working with the young athletes on the field with youth, junior-high and senior-high coaches are current senior high Blackhawks.
“We want ’em to have fun,” Travis said.
Trainer Jamie Mann was on hand to assist as needed. Drinks and snacks were provided by John Brown. Every participant, and an adult partner, will receive a Blackhawk T-shirt Friday during special competition, Travis said. All proceeds from the camp are for equipping the weight room in the new multi-purpose facility.
YOUTH FOOTBALL
4th-6th grade
Aug. 27 - Jamboree, Prairie Grove
Sept. 10 - Prairie Grove
Sept. 17 - at Lincoln
Sept. 24 - at Shiloh
Oct. 1 - Farmington
Oct. 8 - atWest Fork
Oct. 15 - Elkins
Oct. 22 - at Gentry
Oct. 29 - at Greenland
Nov. 5 - Siloam Springs
2nd and 3rd Grade inner-city
Sept. 10 - 9 a.m. White vs. Black, 10 a.m. Grey vs. Red
Sept. 18 - 2 p.m. White vs. Grey, 3 p.m. Black vs. Red
Sept. 25 - 2 p.m. Black vs. Grey, 3 p.m. Red vs. White
Oct. 1 - 9 a.m. Black vs. White, 10 a.m. Grey vs. Red
Oct. 9 - 2 p.m. Black vs. Red, 3 p.m. White vs. Grey
Oct. 16 - Championship, 9 a.m. third record vs. fourth record, 10 a.m. second record vs. first record
Sports, Pages 7 on 07/27/2011