Warden boosters bring in football players for camp

WARDEN – The Warden High School football field will be full of players Thursday and Friday, as part of the mini football camp hosted by the team’s booster club.

Players will get the chance to learn from players of the Wenatchee Valley Skyhawks, a professional indoor football team.

“The coach and I were talking, and we were talking about a football camp,” Warden Football Boosters President Linda Guerra said. “Some of our boys didn’t want to do a big camp because of money, and so when that one coach told me that I told them ‘I’ll see what I could do.”

Guerra said that she had initially contacted a coach or general manager with the Skyhawks and the Tri-City Rush back in mid-July, with the Skyhawks getting back to her first.

“I had gotten a hold of the Wenatchee (team), and they were working with us really well,” Guerra said. “We have about three of four arena players coming in to train with these kids.”

The Skyhawks will train the young players in the different techniques of the game, with focuses on both sides of the ball.

“All position areas, most likely,” Guerra said of what the Skyhawks will be assisting with. “Offense, defense and all that.”

The camp is open to all from those in Kindergarten to seniors in high school. The camp was originally set from third-12th grade, but was opened up further to encapsulate other football-related programs for younger ages.

“(I asked) if we were going to open it up to anybody, and so we opened it up and put it down to kindergarten to seniors,” Guerra said. “Due to flag football and stuff that we have other programs running during the school year.”

Those who want to attend the camp can be from anywhere, Guerra said.

“We’re open to everybody,” she said. “We actually have a player from Ephrata coming down, so it’s open to anybody who wants to show up.”

Registration for the camp costs $50 per player, and can be done until the camp begins on Thursday evening. Campers will receive a t-shirt as well with the registration fee.

The camp had “about 30” registered as of Tuesday, which Guerra said was above the goal they had in mind.

“We honestly thought we were going to have less,” Guerra said of the initial thoughts on turnout. “When we had our word spread out and everything, we were pretty excited for the amount right now.”

Camp begins on Thursday at 5 p.m. on the Warden High School football field. Training will run until 8 p.m. on both days, with dinner served to the players.

“We’ll have pizza on the first day and Subway the second day,” Guerra said. “We will have water (too).”

Those who come out to the camp should come prepared for a work out and in the proper clothing.

“We do recommend, if they do want to come, to wear comfortable shorts, t-shirt, shoes, cleats and just bring a water bottle,” Guerra said.

Ian Bivona may be reached at ibivona@columbiabasinherald.com.