Around 50 kids, grades 7-12, will be attending the annual Co-Ed Track and Field: Hurdling, Pole Vault and Throwing Camp June 14-17, and the coaches seem ready and eager for its start.

The camp offers three training sessions a day under the direction of track and field coaches Tom Akers, (hurdling and camp director), Mary Wallace (throwing) and Nate Davis (pole vault).

According to Wallace, the camp offers participants lunch, dinner, some time in the pool and a list of activities that will keep them busy from 9 a.m. until 10 p.m.

“It’s something as a staff that we look forward to,” Wallace said. “We’re always working with collegiate athletes, so it’s fun to work with younger athletes and get back to the basics, and it’s really exciting to watch them learn, seeing them develop and grow as an athlete.”

With a 7-12 grade age group, Davis has said that although they pretty much group them together, they do take time once a day to work with them individually as well.

“The older kids kind of teach the younger kids, especially with the hurdling camp,” Davis said. “With the younger kids, we’ll work on their fundamentals; a lot of kids need that kind of direction, but we’ll also get in the classroom and talk and get out in field and just play frisbee football and have some fun.”

At the end of the camp, a competition is held, but according to Davis, by that time the kids are tired from jumping hurdles three times a day.

Perhaps the greatest thing for both the coaches of the camp at least is watching their campers grow athletically.

“I hope that the campers have more knowledge than what they came with, so if someone that just missed state maybe we can make them be a state qualifier and enhance their performance as an individual,” Wallace said.