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About 250 young players 6 - 13 descended onto the Maple Avenue campus football field for this year's SVJFA-WESCO football camp.

The Snohomish football camp that has gone on each year prior to starting the season creates an environment for the new players to become familiar with some basic football skills and returning players the ability to tighten up their skills.

A new tradition started last year involves getting the high schools involved in helping to prepare these young players for what will come later. The SVJFA split into a new age group last year involving 13-year-olds, which ultimately means that you can play select football until starting their freshman year in high school.

Glacier Peak head coach Rory Rosenbach brought his entire varsity coaching staff down to help with drills. In fact on Wednesday we counted 10 freshman football players from Glacier Peak that also helped run drills with these young athletes. You may recognize a couple of these names; Berg, Coleman, Dale, Elvig, Hensley and McIntyre to mention a few.

Snohomish high school was holding a camp of their own this week for their freshman but was able to send over a couple coaches to help also.

A sea of panther red and grizzly blue carpeted the football field for two hours each day of the camp this week. School pride was very evident among parents and students. "This is the last bastion of real boyhood sports" said one parent watching his nine-year-old from the sidelines. "Everything boys like to do but can't is okay in football. Running, catching, tackling and competition, isn't football great! There's a reason that football programs and their success help carry the existence of other sports" he said.

To find out more on how your young athlete can become involved in Snohomish junior football visit http://www.eteamz.com/SnohomishValleyJrFootball/

Snohomish Valley Junior Football Association (SVJFA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to safely teaching Snohomish Youth the importance of leadership, teamwork, dedication, and sportsmanship through the fun, exciting, physically challenging sport of tackle football! All Board members, Coaches, Assistants, and everyone else associated with the function of this league are completely volunteers!