Local children participate at Larry Blakeney Football Camp

By consensus, it is the highlight of the day for participants in the Larry Blakeney Troy University Football Camp.

Kids in both age groups — first through fourth graders in the morning session and fifth through eighth graders in the afternoon — gathered Thursday at Rip Hewes Stadium and took their best shot at the tackling dummy across from them.

Every kid who was asked said the tackling dummy was his favorite station as groups went through various drills and rotated around the field.
“I hit it hard and it went down,” said Preston Garner, 6, who went through the morning session with his brother, Wesley.

Wesley described what it felt like: “The top was light and the bottom was kind of heavy. It slid a little.”

The Garners were part of a large contingent from Geneva who ignored ominous clouds and came to the camp.

“They worship the Trojans anyway,” said their mom, Melanie Garner. “We go to every home game, so this was right up their alley.”

Wesley Garner, nearly 8, said a lot of his friends were there.

“Mason, Thomas, Clayton, Cole, Brandon ... and Luke,” he rattled off.

“Our boys play all the sports together,” Melanie Garner said. “It’s just the group. Same group, everywhere we go.”

Around 100 kids in each session were signed up for Thursday’s camp, now in its sixth year.

“We have won a lot of young people over coming down here and putting a T-shirt on them and trying to teach them a little bit about the fundamentals of just
being an athlete,” Troy head coach Larry Blakeney said between sessions.

“We’re trying to show them exercise, form running, flexibility, things that are important to them as a youngster. Maybe it’ll carry over to junior high and even high school.”

Blakeney brings many of his coaches down.

“We enjoy it,” he said. “We always have an alumni meeting the night before. Had a great crowd last night.

“It’s good outreach for us to come to Dothan. We’ve got a lot of people down here and developing a lot of young followship.”

The coach said he’s seen some familiar faces over the years — participants and parents.

Cody McCardle, 10, attended last year’s session and brought his friend, Tanner Owens, to the camp on Thursday.

“My favorite part last year was tackling those things,” he said, nodding toward the dummies.

“They all like to hit those,” Blakeney said. “We try to keep it as safe as possible. We’ve had good luck with this thing and had a good turnout. It’s fun for us and
I hope fun for these young ’uns. We get a pretty good cross-section of the Wiregrass. A lot from Dothan, but from all around, too. It’s been a good thing for us.”

Nicki Hamm drove through rain to bring her son, Kye, to the camp.

“I’m a Troy grad in 1995,” she said as she thanked Blakeney for the clinic.

Kye Hamm, 9, said he learned how to run faster.

“You have to run loose and stretch a lot,” Kye said.

He must have been listening. He won the sprint at the end of the morning session.

Blakeney pulls the kids together for a final message at the end of each three-hour session.

“I always talk to them about listening to their parents and their teachers, doing good in school, and trying to get some exercise,” he said. “Get off the video
games and try to get outside.”