BETHALTO - Civic Memorial High School's football team is currently in the middle of their summer football camp. It began on Monday and ends this Friday, June 9. The camp is held from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. each day.
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Eagles football head coach Rick Reinhart said that this camp is mainly about learning the fundamentals and the ins and outs of the game.
"We're going to be very very young this year, so we're just going to take things a little bit at a time and work our way up, try to gain some confidence," Reinhart said after day three of the camp.
Fifteen seniors graduated from the program after last season, leaving the Eagles in a bit of a rebuilding phase, but Reinhart is confident that his team can figure things out.
"These guys have been waiting for their turn and we'll see how they do," he said regarding some up-and-coming players.
The rain they were calling for held off this morning and it seemed to be a fairly large turnout for the football program.
"We're really pleased with our numbers. We had like 130 kids here total between the two days," Reinhart said.
Coach Dustin Devening ran most of the drills Wednesday morning including a step-by-step demonstration on tackling. He later gathered the team around and discussed the different types of defensive coverage.
Other coaches attending the camp were Mike Pasley, Luke Meyer, Madi Mikhayel, Shane Stille, and Derek McGowen. The only coach absent was Jeremy Christeson who's also CM's wrestling coach.
Not only was there a camp held for the incoming and returning high school players, but there was also a youth camp for any kids interested in learning the sport. It was mainly led by the older eighth-graders and was supervised by coach Devening.
Coach Reinhart absolutely loves hosting the youth camp.
"This is huge. This is a good sign of our program to come," he said.
"The ultimate thing about learning and teaching is when your guys that you coached, or played for, or are playing for, can teach it to the young guys," he added. "That just builds a bond. The young guys appreciate the older guys hanging out and spending time with them."
The Eagles finished last season with a 7-4 record. They'll look to build off that and have another above .500 season in the fall.
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