UNION CITY — The Mississinawa Valley High School football program hosted their youth football camp on July 19 for kids entering grades first through seventh at the high school football field.

The Mississinawa Valley High School football coaches and high school players coached up the campers through different offensive and defensive drills with the day ending with a scrimmage.

Mississinawa Valley football head coach Steven Trobridge said the camp is a great day to teach the game and have the high school players interact with the young kids. He said it’s neat to see the little kids recognize the high school kids from watching them on Friday nights.

“We started this in 2017. Then when I took over in 2018, I opened it up to all surrounding areas. It’s good to get all of these kids,” Trobridge said. “But what I truly believe is the young eyes look up to the older kids. I make it mandatory for all of my varsity kids to be here. They work with youth because a lot of these kids are up there in the stands on Friday nights watching these guys.”

The high school players get to show off their coaching skills as they lead the drills. Trobridge said it’s amazing to watch his players coach up the young kids. He also said it helps the coaches out seeing if what they are teaching the players works or not through this camp.

The numbers have grown for the camp since it first started. At the same time, the number for the high school program has grown as well.

“The biggest thing is you see the growth in numbers and it starts here. Back in 2018, we only had 16 players. This year, we got 31. A lot of it, I believe, starts in this youth program we’ve been doing,” Trobridge said.