Swelling 108 degree weather was not enough to deter nearly 100 youth athletes from the Imperial Valley to take part in the first annual Friday Night Lights Youth Camp. A single-day youth program hosted by Central Union High School’s Football Coaching staff and players. This year the event was held on Friday, August 6th, 2021, and with the help of parents and volunteers, the event was a success says Josh Wise, Athletic Director at CUHS.
7 Stations
CUHS’s Head Football Coach Rookie Pena had 7 different stations set up to help drill and work on the fundamentals of Football, everything from Blocking to Throwing the Football, there was a station for everyone to be involved with. This year’s camp was available to kids from TK – 8th grade and each station was tailored to work with all ages. Young athletes were seen passing, blocking, tagging, protecting, scrambling, running and cheering each other on with great enthusiasm as the sun set on Cal Jones Football Field in El Centro. From the sidelines we watched as parents cheered on their young athletes and enjoyed seeing their faces smile as they were surrounded by teammates and other students of the game who were enjoying their time while getting to spend time with some of the CUHS Varsity Football Players.
1st but not Only
CUHS Athletic Director, Josh Wise was impressed with the turn out and the level of support from the parents and staff and said that he would like to see this expand to other sports including Volleyball. He said that although this is the first, this will not be the last of this type of camp as it gives the young athletes the type of experience and understanding of what would be expected as they move on into High School sports. VSN was honored to be there on the ground level to see this unfold and to see all of the young athletes who truly were enjoying themselves out there on the field.
Field Testing
As the kids took the field, VSN took that opportunity to test and work through some of the broadcasting regiments that we are preparing for with the 2021 Football Season. There is just 2 weeks until kickoff and VSN will now have 2 crews producing 2 different “Game of the Week” Livestreams to better expand our coverage of the Imperial Valley. We have made large investments into what we believe only better suits our viewers and we are excited to have gained the support of our Valley Schools to help broadcast these exciting matchups. With Jalen Fong and Ron Rubio working on sideline reporting and interviews, it gave a different perspective and understanding from Play-by-Play calling or Reporting and we are looking to bring a lot more in the near future.
