Summer Camp
While lots of students are at the swimming pool, or on vacation, several Enid High Athletic teams ventured out of state to attend team camps to get better, bond, and have some fun.
Football
Coach Cameron Conder took the Enid High Football Team to Emporia State University in Emporia, Kansas in June. “We took about 70 guys up there to a college camp, which they were really excited about. We thought it would be good to get them away from the local camps and see some other teams we don’t usually see (and keep some teams from seeing us),” said Conder. “Also, we thought an overnight camp would be cool so the team could get a little taste of university life, staying in the dorms and eating in the cafeteria. Some of our kids are getting recruited by Emporia too, so it was good to get them in front of their coaches so they could see a little bit more of them. It was a great experience. We haven’t been on a team camp like this in several years, so we really appreciate the booster club making it happen for us.”
Volleyball
For first year head coach Valerie Francisco, getting the kids to camp was not only about improvement in the varsity team, but the program overall. “This is the first year we have been able to take the whole team, including the freshmen and JV, and 29 girls attended,” said Francisco. “We are really trying to build the program, and it was really cool to see the team bonding that happened, especially between the seniors and the younger kids.”
The camp they attended was at Wichita State University and had about 30 other teams participate. The team stayed two nights in a nearby hotel and was paid for by fundraising the team did. “The camp really wore the girls out. In the morning, we watched drills set up by the college coaches and teams, and then we went off to practice them on our own. The coaches would come by and offer tips and make sure we were doing them correctly, then we scrimmaged in the afternoon. We split up into 3 teams for the scrimmages, and each team got about 12 matches over the three days. It was also cool that some college coaches got to see the girls compete, which has led at least one college (Friends University) to attend our scrimmages. It was an awesome experience and got me really excited for the season since we got to see our new offense in action. We have the ability to be really good!” said Fransisco.
Cross Country
Cross Country Coach Justin DeClerck’s desire to take the team to camp was born out of getting to go to camp as an individual when he ran in high school. “I got to go to camps when I was in high school, but not as a team. I really wanted to give the kids the opportunity to do it during high school as a team.” Seventeen from the boy’s team and one from the girl’s team were able to go to University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, Arkansas. DeClerck was not named the girls coach until the school year ended so did not have as much time to encourage and recruit girls to the camp this year. “If I had six months to plan like I did for the boys, we would have had a lot more girls go,” says DeClerck, “but we still wanted to give them the opportunity.”
The four-day camp consisted of running, of course, but also a lot of classroom time that focused on different topics such as nutrition, training, recruiting, biomechanics of running, and how many opportunities are out there, not just D-1.
“By getting away, having fun, and team building, we accomplished all that I wanted to and am really glad we went,” said DeClerck.
