Seffner, June 28, 2018 – “Love being given the opportunity to host this BCP event, honored that Preston and BCP camps made this happen at our beautiful facility- people don’t notice or ask a little Christian school like us as much. ~ Head Coach Travis Puleo, Seffner Christian Crusaders.
It’s always a learning experience for everyone in attendance at BCP’s spring and summer offseason skill camps, and wherever these events may be held throughout the Sunshine State of Florida, everything is achieved with hard-earned sweat- and sometimes blood as the sun undeniably beats down on coaches, players, parents and BCP Staff. Here is some insight on some of the conversations and things that take place as I make my rounds to everyone involved in these camp happenings that aid young athletes in taking that next step at upping their game.
“You can lose with great athletes, but you can’t win without great athletes is something I’ve come to believe and the year before we went 7-3 and got to playoffs for first time. We got caught up in the ‘me’ part of it in 2017 and are focusing towards “we not me” as a bonding component. We’re building on a physicality we did not have, and on the defensive side our Defensive Coordinator has done a tremendous job at coaching, have to be able to compete up front to have a chance on Friday night, so our strength and conditioning program has helped out our guys on that a ton. It all comes down to us closing out games, we have to finish- we were within a score or less in the majority of our games and couldn’t seal the deal. You go through a 1-8 season and it makes you appreciate winning Friday night games even more; this is what we grind for at the end of the day. Christian Helms, Isaiah Knowles, Justin Stubbs, and Tristian Kistler are our four closest captain rising junior leaders; haven’t had that in the 6 years I’ve been here,” Head Coach Travis Puleo exclaims affirmatively.
“Rent is a rising junior Quarterback at Clearwater High earning his starting spot, they’ve been doing a lot of 7v7, and placed 2nd in the USF camp event, and his favorite receiver got an offer from USF that day as well. At least 30 teams around the state competed, he just loves to compete, the experience, and I love seeing that these kids are all about football at these camps- he’s been playing since he was 5 years old. You have to have patience, football is a team sport, so it definitely helps to be surrounded by kids that have determination, resilience, and are motivated,” Rent Montie’s passionate Mother Lisa explains.
“I’ve improved most on speed and smoothness of my routes, and flexibility. My goal is to take another shot at the playoffs; we lost to Clay High last year in the first round, but we can definitely make a run at it this year with some young guys and experience, and I’m pushing towards receiving a scholarship as well. You have to show the young guys love but can’t let them rely on just talent and not working hard- have to get guys stronger and more competitively aggressive. I like hunting fishing in my spare time and hanging with friends, and making sure I’m in really good shape because I’m trying to play both sides of the ball this year and be reliable for my team,” says upcoming senior RB and slot outside back at Hernando high, David Bronson.
“One thing I do see is backs that are working on perfecting their craft- they’ve been preparing, still willing to learn; not a lot of talking and egos, just competing. They are taking good advantage of these camps at the high school level and helps develop a player to be seen around local competition, also enhancing your game arsenal. You don’t want to be a one trick pony- expect greatness out of yourself, don’t just stop when you reach goals or that ‘number 1’ spot, keep working and never be satisfied. A splinter is small, but you know it’s there; so do the small things to improve and that in itself makes a difference for the big picture,” states BCP Running Back Coach, Arthur McCoy.
Vaughan Sixbury, BCP Contributor