By Jeremy McDonald
Jeremymcdonald73@gmail.com
AMITY, Ore.– There’s something special about giving back to the community that you live in. To build that connection and let the next generation know that you’re thinking about them.
And that’s what the Amity Football team has been doing this past week: Giving back to the community.
With the season on the horizon, the Warrior football program has been working with the youth and connecting with the next generation of Amity football players. Working. Playing with them. Building that connection.
It was a nice break from that Summer grind before their season begins.
“It’s a big thing because I remember going to Kid’s Camps when I was in fourth or fifth grade or even younger and thinking that the High Schoolers were the coolest kids ever,” starts Paden Berkey. “It’s good to build up a program and community around Football, especially at a Small School. We need to start young and get them exposed and I think being with the High Schoolers and building that exposure is super important.”
Entering this season, the Warriors will be a young squad after losing 14 seniors to graduation from their 3-6 squad last season. But for the incoming seniors like Berkey and Simon Dick, it’s going to be up to them to help dictate how this squad is going to look and the direction they may take when they take to the field for the jamboree here in two weeks.
“As seniors, we get to build how the team is. They’re going to look up to us and build it like how we think it should be built and being able to help the underclassmen is a big deal with the future and the development of the team.” said Dick.
“Coming into this year, us Seniors like me and Simon, we got a couple of other guys, we need to step up and step into their positions so the other guys can look up and listen to us. We need to work hard so the other guys can work hard and look up to us,” adds Berkey.
The Warriors will be at the Dayton jamboree on August 28, and that’ll be a good measuring stick for this squad as they prepare for their first game of the year at Pleasant Hill on September 4. To see how they’re picking up the offense and defense entering the year under second-year Head Coach Bobby Walker.
“These next few weeks are going to be important in developing and understanding the offense and defense and setting how the future is going to be,” said Dick.
The Warriors first home game of the season will be on September 18 against Sutherlin.
Photos By Jeremy McDonald
