Molding young minds and bodies

Published 8:36 am Friday, June 26, 2015

The All-Pro Legends Football Camp took place last Thursday, and the Sports Work Academy Basketball Camp was last Saturday.

Participants at both clinics learned the new ways to become better players at the sports being taught, and both clinics taught life skills to the campers.

The football camp was in its 13th year and featured a staff that has a variety of experience in the game. The campers got to learn about the game from people who had played in the NFL, coached in high school, scouted professionally and/or played football in Washington Parish.

Camp Director Bruce Plummer did all of those. He played for Bogalusa High School before graduating in 1983. He eventually played in the NFL and later became an NFL scout and was a scout in the Canadian Football League.

Currently, he is an assistant coach on Bogalusa’s football coaching staff.

The Lumberjacks’ coaching staff was also there giving their time to teach various skills of football.

The drills the campers went through gave them an opportunity to learn and compete.

At the end, they taught the 187 campers life skills.

Two days later, 32 campers headed to the YMCA on Avenue B to enjoy the SWA Basketball Camp.

The clinic was celebrating its ninth year, led by co Camp Directors Michael Galloway and Nikita Wilson.

Galloway played basketball for Bogalusa High before he graduated in 1985. Wilson is a former LSU player and was a 30th overall pick by the Portland Trailblazers.

Once again, Galloway put a quality staff together to teach the campers different aspects of basketball before putting it together in a 5-on-5 contest.

Like the football camp, the participants learned life skills at the end.

We thank Plummer, Galloway, Wilson and all of the coaches who were involved in these camps for taking time out of their schedule to teach the children about these sports as well as other aspects of life.