Published: June 14, 2009 02:24 pm      

Indian Camp focuses on strength, speed, heart

By Jay Neal

sports@jacksonvilleprogress.com

As expected Indian Camp, a voluntary summer workout program for all Jacksonville athletes in middle school and high school, is made up of a heavy dose of work in the weight room, quickness and agility routines and the sometimes dreaded conditioning drills.

What Indian Camp is breeding that may be surprising to some is the sense of brotherhood and heart that many of the participants are finding themselves infected with.

Those bonds of brotherhood should help define the group of young men that will make up the 2009 Jacksonville Fightin’ Indian football team.

One Indian that is passionately participating in the drills, which last from 8 to 10 a.m. four days a week, is junior linebacker/fullback Cody Bolton.

Bolton takes the activities quite serious and leads by example on the Happy Valley practice field and in the JHS weight room.

The least favorite portion of the camp for many is the conditioning work, a somewhat grueling set of sprints at various distances designed to help keep the participants in the best physical condition possible in preparation for the rapidly approaching two-a-day workouts.

The lean and chiseled Bolton is usually the first one off the line when the whistle blows to start conditioning and he is also the first one back to the line, usually well ahead of most of his other teammates.

He extracts his inspiration from an unusual source — his coaches.

“Knowing and seeing our coaches out here every day, giving up time during their summer to work with us and to make us better, is encouragement and makes being here a high priority for me.” Bolton said following Wednesday’s Indian Camp. “I have a lot of respect for these men.”

When asked what sparks him to attend the early-morning workouts, Bolton said his focus is on improving himself in more ways than one.

“I am here to not only get stronger and faster, but to bond with everyone and to get to know the (players) better,” he said. “It’s not only about the blood and sweat bringing everyone closer together, but (being out here) is more about heart; for a team to win they have to have a lot of heart.”

Jacksonville offensive coordinator Robert Ford said anywhere from 45 to 60 athletes are taking advantage of Indian Camp and that he is pleased with the efforts the boys are displaying.

According to Ford, some of the parents of the younger boys are filled with more anxiety concerning the Indian Camp experience than the athletes themselves are.

“I had a mom bring her son, a seventh-grader, I believe, to camp Monday and she came up to me and said, ‘Coach take care of him; he is my baby,’” Ford recalled. “I told her, ‘Don’t worry; he will be just fine,’” Ford, a former Dallas Cowboy assistant coach, said with a twinkle in his eye.

On Wednesday, Ford focused on working with the younger players while defensive coordinator Michael Baysinger and several other varsity assistants drilled the upperclassmen.

From the players encouraging each other on during drills to chants like, “Walking won’t get you anywhere on Friday nights” or “Winning doesn’t come easy” coming from some of the assistant coaches, Indian Camp is really all about building character.