Go Broncos!!!!

Jake finished up the last day of his Boise State Broncos (currently ranked #4 in the nation!) football camp today. It was a three day camp put on by the Boise State Football program, that was run by the Broncos Head Coach Chris Peterson (Coach Pete). Jake was thrilled when he found out he would be practicing in the indoor field turf practice field and playing on the blue turf in the Broncos Football stadium. The camp is for 7-13 year olds so this is the first year that Jake was able to do it and he was really looking forward to it.

The camp was HUGE. There were easily 300 kids enrolled (and out of all those, only TWO girls, which Marisa pointed out to Faith immediately!). The kids were paired up into leagues and teams based on age (Jake was on the Sabercats in the Arena League), and coached by one of the Broncos position or assistant coaches. Coach Tio was Jake's coach- a big, big Samoan man that was like a big teddy bear.

This camp was intense! It ran 5-8 Thursday night, 9-

noon Friday and Saturday. Each session started with a typical football warm-up, the kids ten ran 12 defensive stations, 12 offensive stations, 6 special teams stations, then played 3 20 minute games of something called "Bronco Ball" that was a lot like Ultimate Frisbee but with a football. It was finally sunny here so it got a little hot on the Friday and Saturday sessions. Each session ended with an inspirational "speech" by Coach Pete covering such topics as attitude, behavior, being on time, doing your best, listening to your parents. Coach reminded the kids to thank their parents for making the camp possible- driving them to and from camp, paying, etc.... There was a lot of emphasis on respect and hard work. I was so impressed with how organized the camp was and how truly committed all of the Boise State players/coaches were with working with the kids. At the end of each day, they brought all the kids Powerade and on the last day, everyone got certificates and a Bronco football.

Jake was exhausted after each day. We were once again amazed and so proud by the way he just gets in there and does things, seemingly unconcerned that he doesn't know another soul there.

He made friends with the guys on his team. Spoke up to his coach and answered questions and raised his hand in the final speech with Coach Pete when Coach asked who needed to work on getting better at listening and taking "coaching" the first time. (Acknowledging that your have a problem, the first step!!!). One of the things that we were truly impressed with was pick up time, the Boise Police showed up each day at the end of camp and they, along with the players barricaded the door and made sure that each kid was leaving with their parent. It makes you feel good when you see that level of detail and caring about kids, especially from a major college football program.

We also of course picked up a season ticket flyer that we are drooling over....Go Broncos!!!