BITBURG AIR BASE, Germany — Overcast skies provided a bit of relief from the heat Thursday on the second day of the DODDS-Europe high school football camp, allowing coaches to step up the pace.
The workload didn’t faze the camp’s two female players, Bamberg’s Kim Borck, a sophomore, and Josephine Reimert, a freshman.
“It’s fun,” said Borck, who added she’s trying her hand at football for the first time. “It was really intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s great.”
Both girls said they were being treated well by their fellow campers.
“Actually, some of them have come up and complimented us,” Reimert said. “They tell us, ‘Good job.’ and ‘Good for you for playing.’ Things like that.”
This week’s rigors have posed no physical problem for either girl.
Borck admitted a bit of trepidation about the road ahead, when the Barons begin preparing as a team for the upcoming season.
“Next week is Hell Week. Two-a-days” she said. “Some of our guys can kill people.”
Catching a break?
“Yesterday, the heat dominated practice,” line coach Mick Plummer of Ansbach told his linemen as they wrapped up the morning drill session, first of three scheduled for Thursday. “Today, it doesn’t dominate. We can give you more repetitions.”
As any football player knows, “more repetitions,” is a coach’s way of saying more work. But it also means that the lessons in football basics being taught here are being reinforced into good football habits.
Still, it’s work.
“They make it harder [on Day 2],” said SHAPE lineman Roger Gates, a senior who attended this camp last year. “This year’s easier because I’m in shape, but camp’s hard no matter what you do.”
