Darrin Martin, a sophomore from Vilseck High School, reaches up to grab a pass during a receivers drill Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. White is being pursued by Bamberg sophomore James Bradley. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Darrin Martin, a sophomore from Vilseck High School, reaches up to grab a pass during a receivers drill Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. White is being pursued by Bamberg sophomore James Bradley. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Kurtis Beeson, a senior tight end from Mannheim, tries to catch the ball before it hits the ground during a receiving drill Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
High school football players run for the finish line during a 40-yard dash competition Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany, attended by about 375 high-school-aged players. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Marcus George, coach of the Ansbach High School football team, gives pointers to a group of high school quarterbacks Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Andrew Grotelueschen, a senior receiver from Ramstein High School, dives forward to make a catch Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany, attended by about 375 high-school-aged players. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Darrin Martin, a sophomore from Vilseck High School, snags a ball in front of sophomore Vaughan Skirvan from Hohenfels during a receiving drill Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Cooper Armstrong, a junior from Vicenza High School in Italy, reaches up for a catch Wednesday during an exercise Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany, attended by about 375 high-school-aged players. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Aaron Hogg, a junior from Vicenza High School in Italy, prepares to make a catch during a receiving drill at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany, on Wednesday. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern quarterback Josh Fry sends a pass downfield to a receiver during a drill for QBs and receivers at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Baumholder's Benjamin McDaniels pulls in a pass in front of Milton Abbott, a coach at Brussels American High School, during a receivers during a drill at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Lakenheath running back Ceivaughn Osby carries the ball Wednesday during a drill at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
To end the morning session at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday, the athletes participated in a 40-yard dash competition. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Athletes warm up for the second session of the day at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Linemen batter the blocking dummies during a drill at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Linemen go through a drill to keep them low to the ground after the snap at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Bitburg coach Mike Laue talks to players at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Brian Champ, who will be a freshman at Lakenheath, keeps his eyes on the ball as he pulls in a pass at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Frank Moya, a coach from the Ansbach football team, takes on Heidelberg freshman Joshua Luna during a lineman training drill Wednesday at the the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. ()
Anthony Adams, a senior from Ansbach, holds the feet of Lee Strickland, also a senior from Ansbach, during warm-ups for the second session of the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany, on Wednesday. ()
Nickolas Setter, a Patch High School senior, carries the ball during a running back drill Wednesday during an exercise Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. ()
Kenny Hall, a senior running back from Patch High School, weaves his way around obstacles during an exercise Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. ()
Charles Boateng, a junior from Hohenfels High School, turns the corner during a running-back drill Wednesday during an exercise Wednesday at the DODDS-Europe football camp in Ansbach, Germany. ()
Lakenheath's Devon Parrish watches his pass head to a receiver during a drill at the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
Rota's Terrence Paris leads other running backs through a drill during the DODDS-Europe football West Camp in Bitburg, Germany, on Wednesday. About 140 prospective high school football players from eight high schools are taking part in the four-day camp. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)
BITBURG, Germany — What are the scores of high school coaches and assistants trying to accomplish at the this week’s DODDS-Europe football camps, which end Friday at the former air base here and at Ansbach High School?
“We try to teach them to play football,” Mike Laue, Bitburg High School head coach and director of the West Camp here, said Wednesday.
“This morning, we worked on defense, showing them where to put their feet. We showed the linebackers where their hips should be, which way their shoulders should face and where they should look next — all those things — as a play develops.”
While it’s demanding to ask teens to absorb the myriad techniques special to each position in just 72 hours, Laue said the camp drills can put things into focus for each player.
“More than anything,” Laue said, “we want each player to see what he needs to work on when (individual school) practices starts next week. He can go to practice telling himself, ‘This is where I need to get better.’ ”
Cool, cloudy football weather greeted the 140 campers at Bitburg and the 375 or so at Ansbach’s East Camp on Wednesday morning as both gatherings got down to business in earnest.
Bitburg freshman lineman Devin Billups, who won the camp’s first ninth- and 10th-grade linemen’s 40-yard dash competition in 5.2 seconds, thought the interval-running that led off the Day 1 sessions was appropriate.
“It’s hard work,” said Billups, who attended an offense-defense camp last summer in North Carolina, “but that’s good. It shows respect for the game.”
As well as for the players’ welfare, Laue said.
“We want them to get into condition so they’ll be safe on the field,” Laue said. “The conditioning also helps warm them up. We do a lot of football drills, and a lot of the time, if they’re not warmed up, we get a lot of pulled groins and other muscles.”
Laue also has opened the school’s weight room for the campers to use during any free time, but the instruction matters more than getting into shape to AFNORTH sophomore lineman/fullback Tony Legare.
“I’m hoping to get a little more experience,” said Legare, who attended this camp last August.
“I want to get a more all-around view to make it easier to play whatever position they ask me to.”
And because it’s all new to Legare’s freshman linemate Liam Murphy, the camp has already been worthwhile for him.
“It’s a big help getting to see other people doing the things we have to do,” Murphy said about his first high school football experience.
According to Ansbach junior quarterback Mikael Vicente, the camp experience offers other benefits.
“If we’re not already a team, this is where we’ll bond,” Vicente said Tuesday at Ansbach as the Cougars attending the camp there arranged their air mattresses and sleeping bags along the school hallways.
And where they’ll learn to persevere through the wind sprints, grass drills, iron-pumping and all the other sweaty background tasks that face the football player.
“I expected a lot of hard work,” said freshman back Andrew Draffin of Bitburg, “and it is hard work. But it’s better than sitting at home.”
bryanr@estripes.osd.mil
