By ROY HESS | Staff Writer
A new generation of athletes is rising up thanks to the Harlingen South Youth Football Camp.
The annual camp completed its three-day run Wednesday at the Harlingen South Mini-Stadium with incoming second- through sixth-graders in one group and incoming seventh- through ninth-graders in another.
There were approximately 75 attendees this year, including some young girls.
“We just want to introduce the younger group to the game of football,” South coach Brian Ricci said. “We want them to have fun and have an enjoyable time. That’s our main goal for the young group.
“For the junior high and freshman athletes, we actually try to implement our football strategies,” Ricci added. “We talk terminology with them. It’s like having a three-day head start (to practice) with them, so we do more football-oriented things.
“Looking at the seventh- and eighth-graders this year, we have some size. Kids are bigger nowadays, it appears. Every year it seems they’re getting bigger. We have some skilled kids out there as well, so it’s a good, balanced group. That’s what stands out.”
One of the younger campers on hand Wednesday was Carter Casas, a second-grader-to-be at Treasure Hills Elementary.
“We’d like to play quarterback when he gets a little older. Carter made it clear his loyalty belongs to South by flashing a “Hawks Up” hand sign with his thumb and pinky jutting outward and his other fingers drawn in a clinch.
“I wanted to learn about football (so I came to the camp),” he said. “I learned a lot like kicking, throwing and how to play.
Go Hawks,” he added.
One of the older camp attendees was Ethan Garza, who will soon be a freshman at South. He’s a 5-foot-8, 175-pound running back, who shows plenty of promise as a high school player. He was named the camp MVP.
Garza played safety in middle school and is making the switch to running back.
“This camp taught me a lot,” Garza said. “I feel that I’m a better player now. The coaches have been super good about everything.
“I want to be vital to the team (as a running back),” he added.”I would like to do what I can to help the players win, and just to be a better person. I want to help the younger guys out like the older guys help me.
“I think the (2019) season is going to be a good one. We’ve got a good, solid team coming back. I just want to do a good job, and I hope we win.”
Ricci said holding the youth camp this week has made he and his coaching staff even more eager for the start of the Hawks’ workouts at 7 a.m. Monday.
“This (camp) is kind of the warmup for next week for the coaching staff,” the South coach said. “It gets us ready to go for Monday.”
The Hawks return five or six starters on each side of the ball. One of the returnees is David Torres, a three-year veteran starter at QB.
South went 4-7 last season and went to the playoffs.
“We have a solid senior group,” Ricci said. “I’ve had three seasons here, and these were the ones who were freshmen when I first started here. We’re going to have a senior-heavy roster, and we’re going to see some sophomores on the roster as well. We had a really good freshman team that went undefeated last season. Some of those guys are going to be asked to play (on the varsity) as sophomores.
“We’ll have a roster of seniors with some youth on there, too,” Ricci added. “We’ve got to replace some players, but we feel we have some younger ones who are going to step up and take their places. They’re getting their chance now.”