By MARK MOLINA | STAFF WRITER
HARLINGEN — High school football practices are less than two weeks away, but Harlingen High players and coaches were out on the field this week in an effort to help shape and influence potential future varsity athletes.
Junior high kids from Harlingen and surrounding communities took part in 2019 Future Champs Camp presented by the Cardinals coaching staff Wednesday and Thursday at the Harlingen High School mini stadium.
The annual two-day camp, which was moved from Boggus Stadium to the high school mini stadium this year, featured 35 participants and covered defensive and offensive drills to help the young athletes improve on everything from footwork to running routes.
Harlingen High head coach/athletic coordinator Manny Gomez said the turnout wasn’t large, but was pleased with the turnout and getting the opportunity to share the camp’s message of being a champion while having a good time.
“It’s still a great turnout whether we have 35, 3,500 or three — we’re going to come out here and coach these kids up and have some fun more importantly,” Gomez said. “Today we talked about comparing and competing. When you compare, you become bitter and when you compete, you become better. That’s what we’re trying to do. Individually, you have to refocus, work and collectively, it’s all got to come together. They’re young and they still understand the importance of the grind, but eventually it’s a collective effort you want to eventually create and maintain.”
Campers received a camp shirt and at camp’s end were given their stat card with individual results in areas like the 40-yard dash and broad jump recorded by the camp coaches.
While the coaches and campers enjoyed the scene during the camp, volunteers from the Cardinal varsity football team were out lending a hand.
One of those was cornerback Isaia Lizcano, who took solace in being able to give back through his time and teaching.
“Growing up, I never had the opportunity to come to camps like this,” the Cardinal defender said. “I was always a basketball player and not really a football player. As I grew, I learned through being out here with these kids is that they have a lot of energy and they just want to have a lot of fun. It’s just about being out here so they can see us because we’re role models to them. I’m out here because I want to help them; they’re future Cards.”
Going forward, Gomez hopes the camp can grow and draw interest from more Rio Grande Valley communities
“One thing we hope to do is put more effort to market these camps in the spring,” the Harlingen coach said. “That way the community, not just in Harlingen, but surrounding areas, can come out here and have some fun and learn a few things. For sure we want them to start looking forward to the camp by the end of May from now on. That’s how we want to market I so, hopefully, we can get our numbers up high.”