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Lessons about commitment taught during youth football camp
South football camp
Campers run through a tunnel of South Effingham players during June 19 camp activities. - photo by Photo submitted

GUYTON — The first South Effingham  Youth Football Camp under the direction of Nathan Clark era was a huge success.

Nearly 60 campers piled onto the practice field to sharpen their skills with the new Mustangs head coach and his staff. In a sport where the numbers are generally declining, Clark was thankful to have great participation as well as the opportunity to motivate the participants to stay active in the game.

"Our coaches do a good job of emphasizing the word ‘fun,’" Clark said. "We try to do fun things like taking pictures and placing them on Twitter. (On June 18), we had popsicles. (On June 19), we fed them watermelon. We are going to give them a T-shirt at the end of the camp. We have the music playing out there while they play games. They are around the older kids. (On June 18), we blended our workout in with the camp. All 90 players have helped. They got to act as role models (and) they had a lot of fun.

“It was good to give back to the community."

The key to football success is understanding that satisfaction from the sport isn’t immediate. Clark reminded the campers that it will take a yearly effort if they want to produce at a high level. And, as he encouraged the next generation of Mustangs, he pointed out the impact the game of football has when people work together as a unit.

I want them to continue to play," Clark said. "I think it's important that they are involved in some type of activity. To me, football is the best team-building activity. It does so many good things. It teaches you delayed gratification. You have to work almost 365 days to play 10 games.

“Football teaches you that have to work day in and day out until you are able to play the game."