The next generation of Yellow Jackets football got a head start this week as the Calhoun High football team hosted its annual youth camp at Phil Reeve Stadium.

The camp, which was for kids ages 6-12, ran from Monday through Thursday with sessions going each day from 8-11 a.m.

“We’re trying to teach fundamentals, but at the same time, we want them to have fun,” said Calhoun head coach Hal Lamb. “We’ve been breaking them up into offensive and defensive positions and doing some scrimmaging.

“Overall it’s gone great, and we’ve had about 70 kids out which is more than we’ve ever had.”

Lamb said the summer heat wasn’t a problem as the sessions being held in the morning hours helped with that. He did say that having kids at such a young age at the camp makes it difficult to see what information they are actually absorbing, but that the most important thing is they are having fun with it.

“With such young kids, it’s hard to see how much they’re improving from day to day, but we can tell they’re enjoying it and that’s what we’re focusing on,” said Lamb. “They kept coming back each day, and it looks to me like they’re learning a lot about the game.”

The four-day camp featured Lamb and several assistant coaches as instructors along with some former Calhoun players. Lamb said the larger number of campers this summer has a lot to do with the community’s passion for the Calhoun program.

“You can tell all these kids love Calhoun football,” said Lamb. “They just want to be a part of it somehow, and being in the stadium and on the turf is really fun for them.”

Possibly another reason for the large group is the continued success that the Calhoun program has had over the last decade. This past fall the Jackets won their 11th straight Region Championship and capped that off with a win over Buford in the Class AA state championship game at the Georgia Dome.

The camp also gave Lamb and his staff a chance to see a bit of what’s to come in the future and be able to instill some good habits in the young football players.

“They’re still a little young to be looking at them as future players here, but some of the older ones are looking good and they’ll be going into the middle school program soon,” said Lamb.

“The important thing is that the kids are having a blast, and that’s what we’re here to do.”

The camp was just the start of a busy week for Lamb and the Jackets team as they also continue their summer workouts twice a week and took part in the Darlington 7-on-7 Passing Camp which was Thursday and Friday. (For a story and photos from the camp, see Wednesday’s Calhoun Times.)

The youth football camp is one of several that has been offered this summer by different Calhoun High athletics teams with more to come, including a youth soccer camp in July led by the Calhoun boys and girls soccer teams and coaches Matt Rice and Randy Rice.