Edgewater football to hold youth football camp

The summer is often a slow time for sports around Central Florida, but it’s the best time for young athletes to take in some practice time.

That’s why Edgewater varsity head coach Cameron Duke and his staff are holding their youth football camp this upcoming week.

The camp itself, which is for ages 6 to 14, will cover every fundamental of the game, while also creating a fun atmosphere to help nurture each kid’s passion for football.

“It’s just a great way to get the youth involved and get them around the program, our players and our coaches,” Duke said. “It’s a fun camp where we want kids to come out and we teach them the basics of football, both offense and defense, multiple positions and get them around some of our varsity football players as well.”

This is the second camp this summer that Duke and the Edgewater staff have put on, and it’s the last one before practice starts up for the varsity side themselves.

Duke said that he and his staff will cover everything a young up-and-coming player needs to know — from how to properly warmup to taking part in drills that are utilized at every level of the game.

Many of the drills and philosophies of the game that Duke will teach will be the same as those he has used since arriving as the head coach at Edgewater High School — the same that helped turn the Eagles’ program around and into a district champion.

For Duke, the camps are also a chance to get his players — of which 15 to 20 will be on hand to help out — a chance to be productive community members as they spend time with local kids.

“Sooner our guys understand the influence they have on other kids — especially younger kids — the better,” Duke said. “They’re always being looked up to, especially by our younger kids in our youth program — we have a Pop Warner program at Edgewater, so we try to get our players involved with that program as well, just so they can understand the influence that they have and the opportunity to give back.

“If you ask any football player they’ll tell you when they were young they looked up to a lot of the high school players in their community,” he said. “I know I sure did growing up.”