Youth Football Camp Serves As Stepping Stone For Future NHS Players

By Andy Hutchison

They may only be in elementary or middle school, but young Newtown High School football-playing hopefuls are already under the watchful eyes of the Nighthawks’ coaching staff. As a matter of fact, many of them have been coached by the NHS staff.

About 40 up-and-coming football players participated in the annual Newtown Youth Football Camp on the field behind Hawley School last week. The camp is coached by NHS Head Coach Steve George and his assistants, along with Newtown High players who help run the drills in exchange for some of their school’s mandatory community service hours.

“From the beginning of the week to now they’ve gotten a lot better,” said Greg Frattaroli, one of those camp helpers who will be a freshman at NHS this fall.

The weeklong camp, which ran for three hours each day, taught players the fundamentals of the game. Each summer, it helps not only the attendees, but also some of the younger NHS players who work with them.

“It reteaches everything — it helps a lot,” Frattaroli said.

The young football fanatics strapped on their helmets and worked on the basics, including ball-carrying, blocking, tackling, passing and receiving between water breaks to combat the heat and humidity. They were critiqued by the coaches who worked with them to hone their skills.

The camp — which has been in existence for about a decade — helps create continuity between the

town’s youth program and that of the high school’s.

“It helps us to know the kids as they come up through the youth program,” said Tom Pellicone, a four-year assistant with the high school program and a three-year staffer with the camp. “When they get [to high school] they are that much more familiar.”

“I’ll be better,” said camper Patrick Donnelly, who will be a sixth-grader this fall. “I’ll be ready for high school and I’ll work harder at it.”

Pellicone and another NHS assistant, Carl Paternoster, work the camp along with George, a two-year head coach and former player at NHS. While the camp does pay dividends for the high school program down the line thanks to the familiarity established between the players and coaches, it also pays off for the players now as they take the field for their current teams.

“The timing of it is perfect because it’s the week before their season starts,” George points out. “That definitely benefits the kids a lot.”

“It will help me get better at football,” said camp attendee Jimmy Leidlein, who will be in seventh grade this coming school year.

Soon-to-be NHS freshman Rick Ruot, a linebacker, attended the camp as a participant only a year ago and this summer he worked at it — quite a change of pace for Ruot. “You help the kids rather than being helped,” Ruot said.

The former campers helped the coaches run drills and worked with small groups of participants to give them attention and direction as they learned the plays.

“It’s fun to be looked up to by those kids,” said NHS junior defensive tackle/center Connor McNamara, who has been a part of the camp since he was in elementary school. He was a camper for a handful of years and has worked with the young athletes for the last three.

“This is a great opportunity for the youth players in town to gain exposure to the high school players and coaches. The youth players always get a big charge out of playing with the varsity player volunteers as well as playing for the high school coaches,” said Connor’s father, Mike McNamara, the coordinator of the camp, who also coached in and served as president of the youth program in town.

 “Coach George, Coach Paternoster and Coach Pellicone have been involved with this camp for many years and have been an instrumental part of making it the success that it is today. Our greatest satisfaction is the enjoyment that the youth players gain as they become part of the Newtown football family,” he added.

McNamara said that all youth players may attend the high school games free if they wear their game jerseys. “It’s a great way to keep everyone involved in the program.”