The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs football team was back on the gridiron last week for their annual spring camp.
Mark Schott, head coach of the Elecs, said the camp is a chance for the players to put the pads on, get out on the field and give the coaches a glimpse of what’s coming in the fall so they can plan their systems. He said for returning players it’s also an opportunity to try a new position and show the coaches what they can do there and for new players it’s to get familiar with their teammates and coaches.
“We’ve addressed a lot of basic positional fundamentals,” said Schott on the final day of the May 2-6 camp at the ECS practice field. “We’ve tried to divide the players into the positional groups that they would likely be playing in in the fall and just going over basic footwork and drills that would translate well to a game situation. Then we’ve also tried to get some real game-like drills this camp. So, we had a little mini-scrimmage here today and we did a couple other drills where we tried to present a realistic scenario for them just to see what their response is like and their awareness on the field.”
Andrew Kehler, who is returning as the Elecs quarterback next season, said the camp was a fun opportunity for the team to get back together and practice the offensive and defensive systems they’ll be using once fall camp begins in late August. He said the players at the camp had a mix of athleticism and speed, but they’ll need more guys to come out in the fall.
“What’s lacked right now is just total numbers,” said Schott. “We had about 24 players come out over the course of the week total. On average we were at 17 a day, so ideally for our team we would have at least 30 to 35 players. We have some work to do to see if we can get to that range and then just overall size as well. We need some big bodies to fill in on offensive and defensive line, so that’s an area where we might have to get creative to address. But we’re also going to see if we can track down and try and recruit some more big bodies to come out.”
Kehler said the players will also be trying to recruit more guys over the next few months by approaching their friends at school and telling them about the opportunity available with the Elecs. He said playing football is an exciting and physical exercise that builds lasting friendships among the teammates, so more kids should get involved.
