Fresno State Athletics
Bulldog California football camps a success
6/28/2016 7:41:00 PM | Football
The Fresno State football staff interacted with more than 2,000 kids across California within a 10-day period in June.
FRESNO, Calif. – To say that the Fresno State football camps this month was successful would be an understatement. Within an eight-day span, seven camps in seven locations, coaches saw more than 2,000 kids from San Diego to Sacramento and everywhere in between.
It was a Bulldog blitz on the state of California.
"I think part of the reason we did so many travel camps was to make sure that we covered the state of California," said Fresno State recruiting coordinator and outside linebacker Jordan Peterson. "That's a huge point of emphasis for us in the recruiting process, making sure that high school coaches, junior college coaches, and prospective student-athletes hear about Fresno State being in the area.
"The camps also served as an awareness of the new people involved within the program. Several of the new guys on the staff have recruited California before and with them and other new faces, it was a way to show people our new staff."
The idea of hosting satellite camps is about accessibility for more players to meet coaches and see how they coach. For many, it's not always realistic to drive to Fresno from the northern and southern parts of the state. Satellite camps put the coaching staff within about 30 minutes of where kids live and makes it much more realistic for those players to meet and work with the Bulldog football staff.
Two years ago, the Fresno State staff did one camp in Southern California and one in Northern California just to get a feel for what it was like running a satellite camp since none of them had done it before. Last year, the staff did three. This summer, the staff went all out, doing one camp in San Diego, three in the Los Angeles area, one in the Bay Area, one in Sacramento and another in Fresno.
Long days that started in the morning with planning, going over who will be attending the camp, setting-up stations, and registration all led up to the two-and-half hour camp during the afternoons.
"We brought our entire coaching staff, graduate assistants, support staff to each site—taking our whole operation down to their area so they could see us in our element," Peterson said. "In an ideal world it's great to have players on campus, but that's not realistic."
Each of the travel camps averaged between 120-150 participants.
The Bulldogs kicked off the whirlwind camp schedule in Fresno—one an individual camp, and other a 7-on-7 tournament where Fresno State was able to get roughly 700 kids on campus.
"It's great any time you can get that many kids on campus in that short amount of time," Peterson said.
The Bulldog staff saw 30 teams sign up for this year's 7-on-7 tournament, nearly doubling the amount it had during its first tournament a few years ago.
Fresno State ended its camp schedule with a two-day youth camp on June 20-21. The camp saw about 100 kids come out to work with players and staff on position work and fundamentals. Each day started out with tackling drills to teach proper technique.
"The idea of the youth camp is about giving back to the community where the kids come out to work and interact with our guys," Peterson said. "It's a camp that caters to the youth that will be the future of the Red Wave."
On the final day, the staff brought out a slip-n-slide to not only give both campers and themselves one last chance to let loose and have fun.
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It was a Bulldog blitz on the state of California.
"I think part of the reason we did so many travel camps was to make sure that we covered the state of California," said Fresno State recruiting coordinator and outside linebacker Jordan Peterson. "That's a huge point of emphasis for us in the recruiting process, making sure that high school coaches, junior college coaches, and prospective student-athletes hear about Fresno State being in the area.
"The camps also served as an awareness of the new people involved within the program. Several of the new guys on the staff have recruited California before and with them and other new faces, it was a way to show people our new staff."
The idea of hosting satellite camps is about accessibility for more players to meet coaches and see how they coach. For many, it's not always realistic to drive to Fresno from the northern and southern parts of the state. Satellite camps put the coaching staff within about 30 minutes of where kids live and makes it much more realistic for those players to meet and work with the Bulldog football staff.
Two years ago, the Fresno State staff did one camp in Southern California and one in Northern California just to get a feel for what it was like running a satellite camp since none of them had done it before. Last year, the staff did three. This summer, the staff went all out, doing one camp in San Diego, three in the Los Angeles area, one in the Bay Area, one in Sacramento and another in Fresno.
Long days that started in the morning with planning, going over who will be attending the camp, setting-up stations, and registration all led up to the two-and-half hour camp during the afternoons.
"We brought our entire coaching staff, graduate assistants, support staff to each site—taking our whole operation down to their area so they could see us in our element," Peterson said. "In an ideal world it's great to have players on campus, but that's not realistic."
Each of the travel camps averaged between 120-150 participants.
The Bulldogs kicked off the whirlwind camp schedule in Fresno—one an individual camp, and other a 7-on-7 tournament where Fresno State was able to get roughly 700 kids on campus.
"It's great any time you can get that many kids on campus in that short amount of time," Peterson said.
The Bulldog staff saw 30 teams sign up for this year's 7-on-7 tournament, nearly doubling the amount it had during its first tournament a few years ago.
Fresno State ended its camp schedule with a two-day youth camp on June 20-21. The camp saw about 100 kids come out to work with players and staff on position work and fundamentals. Each day started out with tackling drills to teach proper technique.
"The idea of the youth camp is about giving back to the community where the kids come out to work and interact with our guys," Peterson said. "It's a camp that caters to the youth that will be the future of the Red Wave."
On the final day, the staff brought out a slip-n-slide to not only give both campers and themselves one last chance to let loose and have fun.
"Be Bold"Â - The official home of the Fresno State Bulldogs is 940 AM ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes 1600 AM.Â
Follow us on:Â
Twitter: @FresnoStateFBÂ
Instagram: Fresno_State_FootballÂ
Facebook: FresnoStateAthleticsÂ
Snap Chat: FSAthletics
Â
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