Camps will focus on youth
By Stephen Tsai
Hawai'iWarriorBeat.comEditor
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Greg McMackin has coached All-Pro football players Ray Lewis, Cortez Kennedy and Julian Peterson.
Still, the first-year University of Hawai'i head coach said nothing is more fulfilling than coaching youths.
"Absolutely," McMackin said. "I think the youth coaches, the Pop Warner coaches, the big-boy coaches are the most important coaches. They're the ones who teach the fundamentals to the athletes as they're growing up. They also teach the attitude."
McMackin gets to experience that again as host of the 2008 Hawai'i Football Summer Camps on UH's grass practice fields.
There are three camps:
Registration is at 8 a.m., and is followed immediately by a session on academic preparation. The camps are from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Each camper receives an Under Armour shirt.
For details, call 956-4516 or go to www.hawaiiathletics.com.
"I really love to walk on the field of youth football," McMackin said. "Like (the Warriors') training camp, it's going to be all positive. They need to hear the positive things they're doing well. We'll correct the things that need to be corrected, but we'll do it in a positive way.
"That's the important thing in coaching young players. I've got a little guy" — grandson Taylor McMackin — "and that's how I want him to be coached: in a positive way. I want him to learn fundamentals and techniques and ways to get better. Our camp is going to have a lot of positive reinforcement."
McMackin said he knows the camps will be filled with skilled players.
"There's talent in Hawai'i — players and football coaches," McMackin said. "I know if you played for a youth team or a high school here, you've had excellent coaching. That's why I want to make Hawai'i the base of (the Warriors') recruiting."
Reach Stephen Tsai at stsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.
