Former And Current NHS Athletes Assist In Clinics

By Andy Hutchison

Future Newtown High School baseball and football players recently got pointers — under the direction of head coaches — from current and past Nighthawk athletes at summer baseball and football camps.

Matt Memoli and Steve George, Newtown High’s baseball and football coaches, respectively, ran annual summer clinics for young athletes who are honing their skills and learning the ins and outs of the games of balls and strikes on the baseball diamonds as well as X’s and O’s on the gridiron.

Memoli held the Summer Baseball Academy for boys and girls ages 8–12 as well as the Middle School Baseball Academy, designed for players on the cusp of playing high school ball, on the playing fields behind NHS. George offered the Nighthawk 7 On 7 Shootout football camp for students in grades 5–9, at Blue & Gold Stadium.

The head coaches had help from their assistant coaches as well as current and past players who got a chance to instruct and see practices and drills from a different perspective than they are accustomed to as athletes themselves.

“It’s great to come back and hang out with the kids and play baseball with them. It’s lots of fun to do it every year,” said RJ Roman, a 2011 NHS graduate who started working at the camp — the first year Memoli held it — while he was playing at NHS three years ago.

Joe Crimi, junior varsity head coach and one of Memoli’s varsity team’s assistants, said it’s great to see the progress of the up-and-coming players in town. “It grows every year and Matt does a good job with the kids. He’s a great leader.”

Memoli and his staff taught everything from the basics of hitting off a tee to pitching, fielding, and the importance of learning a variety of positions. George and his group of camp instructors provided position-specific training for quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, linebackers, and defensive backs.

“I think the most important thing is to get the youth program in sync with our program,” said George, referring to the Newtown Youth Football program. George added that the camp gives him a chance to learn who the future Nighthawks are and see the kind of talent coming up through youth football.

Not that they don’t enjoy their high school head coaching jobs in season, or that they don’t take these camps seriously, but these summertime clinics serve as a nice change of pace from the sometimes pressure-packed preparation and game time management that comes with school coaching.

“I love it. This is so much fun,” Memoli said of his camp. “The best part about it is the high school kids — giving them a chance to be leaders.”

“The youth kids look up to a lot of my players here. It’s nice — they really appreciate the fact that the kids come down — specifically [NHS quarterback] Drew Tarantino, who I think was here every day and worked with all the quarterbacks and showed them things we’ve taught them throughout the years,” George said.

“I like coaching with kids. They always look up to you,” said rising junior Jack Lago, a safety and receiver on the Nighthawk football team.