Alabama head football coach Nick Saban’s annual football camps have been in full swing this summer. The blazing heat hasn’t stopped kids from signing up and experiencing what it takes to be a national champion. Alabama’s coaching staff and several high school coaches across the Southeast have teamed up to help develop the techniques of these young players.
“This year’s summer’s camps were a success judging by the number of kids who attended,” said camp director Patrick Suddes. “We had the most kids ever attend this year’s camps, and I think that can be attributed to two things: word of mouth spreading from kids who have participated in the previous three years, and winning the national championship helped a little bit.”
High school Camp 1 started June 6, running for four days through June 9. Ages 14-18 from all across the country came to Tuscaloosa to learn and improve their skills.
“At our first high school camp we had 560 players come and attend the camp,” Suddes said. “As with anything, the first camp had a couple minor glitches that we had to iron out, but overall the camp went really smooth and we got a lot of positive feedback.”
Youth camp followed on June 13-16. With 1,200 kids registered, from ages 8-14, the coaching staff knew they were going to have their hands full for the next couple of days.
“We were definitely shocked about the number of kids who came,” Suddes said. We had 300 more kids this year for this camp than last year. It was a difficult task to keep them under control, but we succeeded by splitting them up into groups. We also had hired plenty of coaches to help with this camp.”
With a couple weeks off for vacation, the coaches were prepared for the last camp. High school Camp 2 ran July 18-21. This was arguably the toughest camp for campers due to the scorching heat.
“The weather was extremely hot, especially during this camp,” said Suddes. “The campers did tremendously well, even with the heat. We have a great training staff and the coaches gave the players a lot of water breaks. The indoor facility was also used to get kids who were cramping up out of the heat and into air conditioning.”
The first day of camp was a half day, which included one practice. After dinner the campers got to play “Bama Ball” which is a game with no helmets and an unlimited amount of passes.
On Monday and Tuesday, the campers practiced twice in the morning and then again in the afternoon. Bama Ball followed dinner. Wednesday, before the campers checked out, Saban Awards were distributed to the campers who worked hard and put a lot of effort into the practices.
“We want them to take the techniques and skills that they learn and be able to apply it to their season to make them a better football player,” Suddes said. “Most importantly, we want them to learn what it takes to be a successful football player: discipline, commitment, effort, toughness and pride.”
