In a major break from traditional summer football camps, Fife High School decided to host a few other schools on its campus this year – an idea that came about as a counter measure to expensive trips to college campuses that many high-school teams have done in past years.
Simply unable to afford costs like $300 per player, or $5,000 to rent a bus, players and coaches from White River High School in Buckley and Highline High School in Burien decided to travel to Fife this summer for a three-day camp, where the cost is more like $100 per player.
“The most immediate benefit we have seen is that we have 55 kids out here from our team, and a lot of them are getting better with this work. Most kids’ families today can’t afford to spend $300 or $400 to send them to football camp. This is much more do-able,” said Fife head coach Kent Nevin.
By the time the Fife staff feeds the teams a barbeque lunch and provides gallons of Gatorade, they will just about break even, or make a little profit toward fund-raising for the team’s budget. They are hoping to add six or eight schools to the camp in coming summers.
Fife quarterback Devan Bennion says it is great for the players to get a chance to scrimmage other teams.
“It can kind of show us where we are at this point and it is definitely refreshing to compete against guys from other schools, rather than just against your own guys,” says Bennion.
White Center’s coach Ken Fagan likes the fact that his kids get to know some of the other players in the area, both on the field, and in the lunch area (the bleachers) where they all break together.
“It’s also just really good for them to be able to get out here and hit some people,” Fagan says.
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