CHARLESTON- The late-spring temperatures today were more like summer conditions for the many high school teams who traveled to Charleston to play at the summer football camp hosted by Charleston High School. Several area teams, including teams from Heavner, Poteau, and Panama, Oklahoma participated in the camp.
For both the Paris Eagles and the host Charleston Tigers, today’s camp was another important first step in preparing young football teams for the August start of the 2023 high school season. Charleston, fresh off of a state championship season in 2022, will feature a very young team that had good success in junior high school football a year ago, but many of whom will be playing their first year of varsity football.
Tigers head football coach Ricky May is excited about his team but knows that it will be a growing process all year. But the young Tigers will have to grow up quickly when Charleston faces its traditional tough non-conference schedule in the first three weeks of the season.
After the day’s camp, Coach May, commenting on his team’s progress, said, “We got a lot of reps for everyone and got to see a variety of offenses and defenses that makes us have to adjust on the fly. It gives us a good opportunity to fix stuff and see all of our kids in game-like situations. I thought the short padding game (players worked out in helmets, shoulder pads, and shorts) looked pretty good for this time of year, and our defensive line looked pretty good.”
For Paris, the team goes into this season with just three seniors, two of which have playing experience. But the young team looked good on both offense and defense. The Eagles are young, but very talented. If this team stays healthy and continues to improve, Eagles fans should see the team have more success this year. After the loss of big numbers and talent at the end of the 2021 season, it appears that the program’s talent level is catching back up to the high school team, and progress should be seen this year as well as steadily improving over the next four years. Head coach Jeff Weaver has both a young and talented varsity team this year, as well as very good talent in junior high school. The 2023 season could be a year where the program begins a trend upward that continues for the next several years.
Photos from today’s camp may be accessed on Facebook at Paris Eagles Sports. The Eagles will return to Charleston next Monday, June 12, for another summer camp session, and RNN Sports will be there again to bring you an update from the camp, as well as action photos of the day’s activities.
Stay with RNN Sports this summer as we bring you updates on football, volleyball, and basketball summer camps and workouts updates!
