Youths learn the game at Northern

Monday, at the Montana State University-Northern practice football field in Havre, Lights assistant head football coach Kyle Samson directs 5-8 graders where to go before running offensive and defensive drills. The MSU-N football camp runs through Wednesday.

The Montana State University-Northern football program has a great following here in Havre, as well in surrounding towns. And it is the Lights success on the field, as well as their involvement out in the community that makes their annual summer camps so successful.

Monday marked the start of another Lights football camp at the MSU-N practice fields in Havre. And once again, the camp brought in a solid group of kindergarten-eighth graders eager to improve on their skills.

The camp ran Monday through Wednesday, and led by assistant head coach Kyle Samson and a handful of other current coaches and players. The camp focused on the fundamentals of the sport, touching on both defense and offense. Campers were in an environment where they were able to learn a little bit of everything and were introduced to different techniques and strategies of the game. Whether the campers were running routes, or learning the proper way to take a three-point stance, the Lights camp used standard drills and exciting games to give campers a fun and knowledgeable camp experience.

The Havre Daily News was able to catch up with five campers and get an inside viewpoint on just what makes the annual Lights camp worth attending.

HDN: How does this camp make you better at football?

Jacob Irvin, age 12 from Havre: "They work on fundamentals with us and just show us different things we need to get better. They teach how to catch better and how to tackle better and stuff like that."

HDN: What makes this camp so much fun to attend?

Laurence Allderdice, age 14 from Big Sandy: "We get to work with the players and the coaches, and get to learn what thye work on too. They teach us fundamentals that the college players use too. The players are out and work with us and I like that."

HDN: What is it like being around all these college football players?

Ivar Aageson, age 12 from Havre: "it is fun. It is fun to watch them, and they teach us things and play the games with us."

HDN: What is your favorite part about the Northern football camp?

Bobby O'Leary, age 13 from Havre: "This is my third year (at this camp), and I like playing the games. I like when we play 7-on-7 (at the end of camp), and I like 1-on-1, when one person is offense and one person is defense."

HDN: What is one or two things that you learned at this camp?

Tony Antley, age 11 from Havre: "I learned the proper way to tackle. When you are playing in a tackle football game and you don't know how to tackle, there will be just scoring because you can't stop anybody. And it is very important so you don't hurt yourself, because if you put your head in their chest, like we were taught not to do, you could get hurt and never play football again."

After the session ending relay races, Havre's Tanner Parsons, age 10, does pushups at the Montana State University-Northern practice football field Monday afternoon in Havre. Parsons was part of the 5-8 grade group attending the MSU-N football camp that runs through Wednesday.