At Seneca High School, football is all about family.
This week, Seneca held its annual one-week Seneca Golden Eagles Football Camp where children from 5 to 18 years old come together to learn all parts of football, from the fundamentals to safety to teamwork. Since its inception, the camp has always been about creating a feeling of family among the attendees.
“(This camp) really shows what Seneca is all about. It shows the family atmosphere, though we only come together for a week,” rising senior and quarterback JJ Scarpello said.
The camp was started back when Seneca High School opened in 2003. Thirteen years later, the camp continues to go strong, with an average of about 120 kids participating. The camp is a week long, running for about four hours each day.
What makes this camp unique is the Seneca Football Camp brings all of the age groups together. From youth to teens to high school students, they all work in their group side by side.
The purpose is to create a family-like atmosphere among the players.
“I want them to gain a love for football, that is key, but also it’s about family. I believe that in football we are a family. And all of us together, all day for four hours, we grow a bond,” Camp and Seneca football head coach Bill Fisher said.
Fisher remembers as a kid looking up to the high school players and wanting to be like them. He wanted the children to have that same feeling for the current high school students.
Scarpello began the program around nine years ago and has been going to the camp ever since. He too began with looking up to the older players. Throughout the program, he feels he gained a lot from learning about the fundamentals to leadership and responsibility.
“As you grow from this camp, you transition from being the little kid who looks up to the big kids to becoming the big kids that the little kids look up to. I feel a sense of responsibility, even though I don’t work with them. I want them to have a great time here,” Scarpello said.
And the kids really do love it. All of the kids were excited to learn and play, no matter the age. Marcus Schoener, Lucas Goehringer and Luke Rodriguez all came to learn about football, as they each play on a youth or rec team.
“I came here just to have fun and to keep learning more and more,” said Rodriguez, who is a first year attendee.
They each liked a variety of aspects about the camp.
“I like that the coaches aren’t really strict, but still teach the fundamentals,” said Schoener, who has been coming for four years.
“I like the drills that they do. They make them fun,” said Goehringer; who is also a newcomer to the camp.
The family aspect runs through all of the age groups. The high school students who attend the camp can often be found at youth games, either helping out or cheering on. The youths are also a part of the older children’s lives, as they come out onto the field for Youth Night during the football season. Even students who have graduated come back to help teach with the youth of the program.
“We had eight former players come back there here to help out. It’s great to have them back and to see them giving back,” Fisher said.
“I always love (the camp). Being a senior now is bittersweet, as I’m finally the big kid here, but I kind of just want to go back to a little kid and just run around and having a good time. Watching our graduates come back, that is what I want to do. There is another step to the camp that I look forward to,” Scarpello said.
The main purpose of the program is, of course, to teach the techniques and fundamentals of football. Children learn offense and defense both individually and as a team. Part of that includes the terms of football. Although some football teams might have different vocabulary for different moves and plays, at the Seneca Football Camp, the same words are used to keep consistency through all age levels.
“We try to keep the same glossary from our youth program to our high school program so when these kids come into high school they’ll already know by coming to the camp,” Fisher said.
Although concussions over the past few years have been a concern with the sport, that hasn’t affected the number of players attending the camp over the past few years, according to Fisher. He said all of his coaches are trained in tackling techniques, teaching kids the correct way to do them as to not cause injury.
“Our instructions have gotten better, our concussions have gone down (at Seneca High School), and hopefully that is a trend,” Fisher said.
Children ages 5 to 18 and of all experience levels are allowed to join the program. Even those who aren’t from the area are invited to attend.
“If the kid wants to become a better football player we’ll take them,” Fisher said.
