Norwalk youth camp kicks off summer

NORWALK — A little summer fun. After days and weeks of constant weightlifting and conditioning sessions, the annual youth camp is a welcome break from the grind for the Norwalk High School football program. Third-year head coach Keith Mora welcomed about 45 campers in grades 3-8 for three days this week at Contractors Stadium. As usual, many of the current high school players helped run the drills for the kids. "It's always neat, especially when you see kids now who have been coming every year," Mora said. "Now I'm starting to see a few kids who are going to be in middle school and on the doorstep of high school. "When they first came here, they were just little boys ... they've kind of grown up in front of our eyes." Mora and his staff broke the camp up into the three phases each day. Monday was an offensive-focused day, with defense on Tuesday and special teams on Wednesday. "We spent some time Monday letting the kids throw the footballs around," Mora said. "They learned about blocking, the proper way to carry the football, catching mechanics, things like that. On Tuesday, we flipped it to defense and taught them how to tackle with the right form, shedding blocks and breaking down." Each day ended with a fun game for the campers to play. "The last day was more special teams focused, but we wanted them to cut loose with some friends," Mora said. "We also did some 40-yard dashes on Wednesday. The goal was for them to have fun running around with their friends, but also interacting with the high school kids, while of course also learning some things." Last week, Mora and several of his assistant coaches were in charge of the North team in the North Central Ohio Football Coaches Association All-Star game. It was played at Clear Fork High School on June 13 after several practices leading up to the game in Willard. Between the coaching staff working the All-Star practices and the usual weightlifting and conditioning sessions, the players and staff enjoyed the camp as a "break" from the daily activities. "It's a little bit of a relief from the grind," Mora said. "With the All-Star game, our coaching staff almost felt like we were into a two-a-day camp already, with conditioning in the morning and practices in the afternoon and early evening. "This was fun for the kids to break up the conditioning and lifting before getting back to it." As for getting back to it, Mora also decided to scale things back a bit this summer. Teams are permitted up to 13 camp days and five days of acclimation with helmets during the summer months before the first official practice begins on Aug. 1. By this time a year ago, the Truckers had already done three camp days and did six in the month of June. As of Wednesday, the program is yet to have a camp day. "We want them to refocus on some things and take a step back this summer," Mora said. "Last year, and even the year before, we really dove into the summer camp days we were allowed. It felt like all we did all summer long was football. "That's obviously not a bad thing, but it also felt like we left some other things out with lifting and conditioning." Mora added that the program wants to make sure they are doing things right from a foundational standpoint. "And you really have to have those other things to do that," he said. "So we took a step back this year to make sure we set our foundation correctly." The Truckers will have three camp days later this month. Otherwise, it will be the standard four days per week of weightlifting and conditioning drills. Norwalk also has a passing scrimmage with Margaretta and St. Paul at 10 a.m. July 24. The Truckers join New London, Galion Northmor, Keystone, Black River, Brookside, and Vermilion at Western Reserve for a passing scrimmage on July 31. The Truckers then have a pair of home scrimmages — Aug. 9 vs. Clear Fork and Aug. 15 vs. Shelby — before the season opener at home on Aug. 22 vs. Toledo Start. "It will pick up fast toward the end of July," Mora said. "But right now, our focus is on the weight room and conditioning side of things."