Currently the offensive coordinator at Trinity International in Chicago, Jefferson is one of five college coaches from the Midwest who will be involved in the Sandhills Optimist Football Technique Camps scheduled for July 17-25.
The ambitious effort by the Optimist Club and Pinecrest varsity football coach Larry Adams follows on the club's establishment of youth flag and tackle football leagues last fall.
The camp for third- through 12th-graders from Moore County, as well as the surrounding area, will be held at Pinecrest High School.
The college coaches will lead the instruction in Session 1 for grades 9-12 that will be held July 17-20. It will run from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each day. The $50 cost includes a noon meal.
Session 2 for grades 6, 7, 8 will be held on July 21-22, also from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and cost $45, including a noon meal.
Session 3 for grades 3, 4, 5 will be held on July 24-25 from 8 a.m. to noon and cost $40.
Instruction for Sessions 2 and 3 will be carried out by members of Moore County football coaching staffs.
When Adams approached Optimist Club Football Commissioner Barry Embler about the camp a number of months ago, he found an eager listener. Adams and the other local high school coaches had been supportive of the fledgling youth leagues last year.
The enrollments are beginning to come in at a brisk pace with Embler expecting 100 or more in the third through fifth grade group alone.
"We feel like it's very important to develop a youth program all the way through high school by offering quality training programs," he says. "We hope to start the kids at a younger age, similar to what we do in baseball and soccer in the community. I think it is going to be to these kids' advantage.
"I commend Coach Adams for his effort in bringing in the college coaches and opening up the opportunities for scholarships for high school players."
Plans are for the youth, middle school and high school coaches participating to attend the high school sessions and adopt a curriculum along the lines of that used by the college coaches.
Adams is adopting tightly timed segments for skills training similar to what was used when he coached at Richmond County.
Most of Adams' high-school coaching career was spent in the Midwest.
This is the beginning of his second season at Pinecrest after spending a year as an assistant at Richmond County. Each of the colleges coaches are preparing lesson plans for their particular area of expertise.
Adams went into this project with the objective of creating a win-win situation for the youth of this community and the college coaches he wanted to bring in.
He used the Internet to identify Division III and NAIA coaches with good credentials that would be interested in traveling to North Carolina to help run a camp. He estimates it took only about a dozen contacts to find the five coaches representing Trinity International, William Jewell College in Missouri, Grinnell College in Iowa, Concordia University in Nebraska and Cornell College in Iowa.
The coaches will not be paid other than being reimbursed for their expenses. The combination of a mini-vacation coupled with opening up a new area for them of potential prospects for their college teams is the attraction.
On the flip side, Adams thinks there are previously untapped opportunities for local athletes that may not have Division I or II football ability to continue their education and football at the Division III or NAIA levels.
"You may not know who they are now," Adams says of the college coaches, "but these are guys that can help some of our kids have a better life. We have kids that can't quite make the Division I, Division II plateau. This is going to help open the doors for them to continue their education and play their sport even if it's at a small school.
"And they will be receiving expert instruction at an unbelievably low cost."
Beginning at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, July 18, and at no cost, graduated seniors from any school system, will be given the opportunity to participate in performance fitness testing before the college coaches.
Later at 6:30 p.m., also at no charge, there will be a meal and a meeting in the Pinecrest cafeteria, providing camp participants and parents with an opportunity to meet with the coaches. The agenda includes a presentation on the academic requirements for different levels of collegiate participation and how it pertains to high school classes.
This is described as a limited contact camp requiring a helmet, shoulder pads, jersey, shorts, mouth piece and cleated shoes. Further details, including registration forms and biographies of the college coaches, are available at www.sandhillsoptimist.com or www.pinecrestfootball.com.
Camp forms are also available at recreation offices in Southern Pines, Aberdeen and Pinehurst, as well as at Sandhills Scuba on Highway 211 towards West End.
