Dolphins Academy concludes 2014 youth summer camps

Written by Matthew Cannata
Dolphins Academy, which provides and elite pro experience for hundreds of children ranging from ages five to 15, recently completed their 2014 youth football camps, which were held at the Doctors Hospital Training Facility in Davie during the last week of June.

The two-week long camps are divided into teams according to age and each team is assigned a coach, which consists of former NFL players. The coaches this year were: Reggie Givens, Najeh Davenport, Troy Stradford, Tyronn Johnson, Darryl Porter, Kevin Beard, Ed Perry, Manny Martin, Donnell Bennett, Sam Madison, Lousaka Polite, Cedric Killings, Lorenzo Davis, Earl Little, Oronde Gadsden, Pat Dennis, James Brown, John St. Clair, Deon Dyer and Troy Drayton.

During the camp, the athletes are taught the basic fundamentals of offense and defense. In addition, they undergo a standard six-week curriculum within a period of three days. Each player has the opportunity to learn new positions and each day, they have practice games where each kid is given a chance to shine.

All the hard work and fun culminated to Championship Friday, where all the teams played in an elimination tournament. The winners of week 1 will play the winners of week 2 to determine the Champions of Football Camp. The Champions will receive a super bowl ring. The date of this game is to be determined.

“It’s exciting to see the interest these kids have in football, especially the young ones,” former NFL linebacker Reggie Givens said. “It all starts here, the love of the game, so to be able to teach five and six year olds the techniques and fundamentals as well as share how much fun it is, is really special for me. Ten years from now I would love to open up a newspaper and see some of these names and read about how successful they’ve become.” 

---