HELENA – Summer hasn’t officially begun according to the calendar, but summer camps are set to begin on the campus of Carroll College.
The Carroll football kids camp begins this weekend, with 12 more slated for later this summer. Mike Van Diest and the Fighting Saints’ football team are excited to see the future of gridiron stars in Montana.
“We changed up the format a little bit. Instead of going Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, this year we’re going to start Sunday afternoon,” said Van Diest. “The registration will be from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at Nelson Stadium, then we’ll have a practice and a combine that afternoon. We’re going to do that a little different, test the kids in sprints, jumps and throwing events, things like that. We’ll practice hard on Monday and Tuesday, then finish on Wednesday morning. We’ll have two practices on Monday and Tuesday like we normally do, from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. Wednesday we’ll wrap it up at 11:30 a.m.”
Van Diest says Sunday’s combine will be a highlight of the four-day camp, but the campers’ favorite part remains learning from the players they see on Saturdays.
“I think they get an opportunity to be a coach and put themselves in position to make decisions. We try to help them with our staff in setting things up, and certainly our coaches will be involved in the camp on a daily basis. But for our players to go out there and put their skills to work, they’re great people and they do a great job with their relationships,” said Van Diest. “I know my son Clay is coming back to work the camp, he’s going to be a high school coach. Troy Arntson is going to be a high school coach, obviously, following in his dad (longtime Helena High coach Tony’s) footsteps. It gives these guys a chance to see what it’s like to be a coach and make decisions.”
“The cost is $145, the same price as the last two years, we haven’t raised it,” continued Van Diest. “Kids will get lunch Monday and Tuesday, they’ll get a camp T-shirt and we’ll give them all the Gatorade they can suck down. That’s always a high point. Some of those kids, they know where those Gatorade tubs are at. It’s a lot of fun for us, hopefully the weather holds out and we look forward to this every year. It’s a highlight for our summer, kicking the summer off on the right foot by playing football with the young kids in the Helena community and around the state of Montana.”
The dates for all of the Carroll College summer camps can be found below. For more information or to register, please click here.
2018 Carroll College summer camps
June 10-13
Carroll football kid’s camp
June 11-14
Carroll women’s basketball skills academy day camp
June 20-21
Carroll softball 12U skills camp
June 21-22
Carroll softball 14U-18U ID camp
June 17-21
Carroll summer boys soccer academy
June 19-22
Carroll men’s basketball competition camp
June 25-28
Carroll men’s basketball junior day camp
June 25-29
Carroll women’s soccer camp
July 8-11
Carroll volleyball camp
July 16-19
Carroll women’s basketball overnight camp
July 23-26
Carroll women’s basketball day camp
July 30 – August 2
Carroll men’s basketball day camp
August 6-8
Carroll volleyball 4th-8th camp
