Russellville is hosting a youth football camp at the high school field June 28 - July 1.
Two camps will take place during this period. The first is for children in kindergarten through third grade from 9:30-10:15 a.m., and the other is for children in fourth through eighth grade from 10:30-11:30 a.m.
The Indians' new high school football head coach, Tim Rulo, is in charge of the camps. Rulo said so far, he has handled things similarly to camps at places he has coached at before coming to Russellville.
"It is a lot of fun and it is a lot of high energy," Rulo said. "We just try to find things that allow the kids to make sure that one, football is fun, we try to find drills that they are going to enjoy. We are excited about that opportunity, especially here at Russellville, because we want these kids to get to experience all these awesome things that football can bring. The excitement, the camaraderie, the playing together as a team, and the learning new skills and drills."
Rulo said right now, there are around 65 participants in total at both camps, and more participants are welcome to join. The camps are also open to both boys and girls.
"It doesn't matter, we would love to have them," Rulo said.
For the parents of younger children who might plan to attend the camps with safety concerns, Rulo said the camp is also going to teach how to play the sport safely.
"The camp is going to provide (the children) an opportunity in a very controlled environment how to play football the right way or the best way possible," Rulo said. "Those parents are more than welcome to come and watch as we run their kids through the drills. We feel comfortable with what we are doing and excited for those kids to be involved in our camps."
Rulo said some of the skills participants will learn include some basics regarding different stances they can use and how to keep other players from getting to the outside.
Rulo said the past camps he has worked at have gone great.
"Any time that we have the opportunity to start teaching the game of football at a young age, the better," Rulo said. "The more someone gets introduced to something - the more they get around something, and get a better understanding of it so they feel more comfortable doing it - the better it is going to be. At the other places I have been at, it has always been good."
Rulo said he hopes the biggest takeaway from the camp for participants is that football is fun, and that they learn what high school football can be like.
"I think a lot of (the children) are, in many ways, inexperienced with the game of football - especially Russellville because it is so brand new - but just in general a lot of what we see on TV, that is not exactly what high school football is like," Rulo said. "High school football is definitely different than that. So we just want to make sure that we have an opportunity for these guys to understand what high school football can look like."