Up North: Duluth East, Vikings teach life lessons through youth football camp<\/p>\n
For three hours last week, the turf at Duluth East High School turned into a classroom. Kids aged six through 14, from Grand Marais even down to Cambridge, got the opportunity to gain some knowledge free of charge from coaches representing their home state\u2019s NFL team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some 6- and 7-year-old youngsters out here who are probably getting their first taste of running a receiving drill, catching a football or throwing a football,\u201d said Blane Tetreault, head coach of Duluth East football. \u201cIt\u2019s really neat to see them experience that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether it\u2019s blocking, catching or passing, campers were taught all the basics. Even if they didn\u2019t know the game before, there were still lots to benefit from.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a youth football player,\u201d explained Tetreault. \u201cYou don\u2019t have to be a high school football player or even an athlete, but you can still build these healthy habits, and that\u2019s really part of what they\u2019re teaching today. It can be fun, and it doesn\u2019t have to have the end goal of earning a college scholarship. It can really become a lifestyle that starts today.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once they got going, the excitement was easy to see.<\/p>\n
\u201cI honestly think the kids enjoy getting to try everything,\u201d shared youth development coach Rebecca Main. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a great program, and we get a great turnout everywhere we go,\u201d stated Jason Van Houten, another one of the coaches. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting because the kids seem to want to learn and be part of the Vikings organization.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what they take away goes beyond football and stays with them well after the whistle blows.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want them to earn to stand in line, be organized, be a teammate and be on time, all the basics of what sports can bring you, whether that\u2019s athletically or from a discipline standpoint,\u201d proclaimed Van Houten.<\/p>\n
To the coaches, making sure every kid has that experience is just as important.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to be able to reach all ranges of athletic ability and all disciplinary areas,\u201d said Van Houten. \u201cWe just have to be able to reach everyone and give them a chance all day or through their whole high school career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nine more Vikings of Tomorrow youth camps are scheduled across Minnesota this summer. Click\u00a0\u00a0<\/a>to learn more.<\/p>\n C.J. Ham\u2019s camp<\/a>\u00a0will also return to Denfeld this July.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFor Related Stories:\u00a0Duluth East Athletics<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Football<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Minnesota Vikings<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Up North<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Up North: Duluth East, Vikings teach life lessons through youth football camp For three hours last week, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":934530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[124216,7,233,259,2529,6,124217,234],"class_list":["post-934529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-vikings","tag-duluth-east-athletics","tag-football","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-vikings","tag-minnesotavikings","tag-nfl","tag-up-north","tag-vikings"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116849710478225548","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=934529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/934529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/934530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=934529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=934529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=934529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}