Thompson’s annual football camp provides fun memories for Alabaster community

Published 3:18 pm Wednesday, July 17, 2024

By Andrew Simonson

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By TYLER RALEY | Special to the Reporter

ALABASTER – Amidst a period of spontaneous summer showers, the weather opened up for the Thompson Warriors to host their 10th annual Thompson Football Camp on Monday, July 15 at Warrior Stadium.

The camp hosted well over 200 kids for yet another year, making it another successful year where coaches and players from the Thompson football program got to spend time with the Warriors of the future and help them improve their craft.

In the midst of a rigorous offseason before the high school football season for Thompson, this camp is a night that they all take to meet the future of the team and enjoy themselves.

“Really, I think we’re all still kids at heart,” said Thompson head football coach Mark Freeman. “We get to come out here and watch these young guys come out here. We go through the camps and do all the drills and they just have such a great time doing it and they get to play Warrior Ball at the end. They love Warrior Ball. They would play all night if we let them, but it’s just a blessing to have the young people out here and to have mom and dad willing to bring them out here. It’s a great day and we love it every year.”

First through sixth graders that attended the night’s festivities could learn anything from basic football skills like catching, tackling and agility to more advanced skills in their stance based on how old they are.

The best part: they got to learn all of this from the players and coaches they idolize in the Warriors’ football organization, hoping to step in their shoes when they get older.

Freeman knows that getting his athletes to step onto the coaching side is a highlight of their time on the team as they get to see the difference they make in the experience that these kids have.

“They love it, and almost every kid I had running the camp with us today, almost every one of them came through this camp,” Freeman said. “I think when you let a player coach, they understand a little bit more about what it is to coach and what it is to be a player to respond to coaching, so I think it does good for them. We always look forward to our coaches coaching, doing some things, but having their kids work with them in those groups so that they’re kids can understand the coaching end of it.”

The kids love what they get out of the camp every year, something Freeman always gets a joy out of seeing. That joy is what creates an overwhelming support for the camp, which is what he views as his favorite part.

“It’s just such a great turnout,” Freeman said. “We want the kids to come out one night, celebrate with us, have some football, play on the stadium field, see the facilities, see the weight room, see the locker room and just hopefully get their ambition to be here and make it grow a little bit more every year.”

With such a great showing each of the last 10 years, it is no question that this camp has contributed to the growth of Thompson football.

As the Warriors continue their trend of massive success, Freeman hopes that the camp continues seeing a climb in numbers that will ultimately result in a continual flourish in the program at the high school level.

“I think we’ve got 76 or 78 kids in sixth grade playing football,” Freeman said. “We’ve got two teams. Every year since (Warren Watts’ staff) took it over it’s grown, so that’s great.”

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