Several hundred young people from throughout the area signed up for another day of sports fun at the 2021 LSHOF Junior Training Camp held on NSU’s campus this Saturday, August 28. Several newly inducted Hall of Fame members, assisted by NSU football and women’s basketball players, put the young people through a series of drills in football and basketball skills. This is the tenth year the training camp has been held in Natchitoches. This year was a bit different due to COVID, with both the 2020 and 2021 inductions taking place in the same summer. That meant twice the opportunities for fun and learning! Over the years, the Junior Training Camp has become an eagerly awaited event for area families.
The NSU women’s basketball team conducted a series of fast paced drills that kept the campers on their feet and moving as they learned and sharpened their skills. The campers then moved on to Turpin stadium where the NSU football team awaited with a field full of practice drills. The NSU gridiron squad was joined by Glen Dorsey of LSU, Marques Colston of the New Orleans Saints and Rickey Weeks of Southern University and Major League Baseball.
The Natchitoches Sheriff’s Department has been a sponsor of the event since the inaugural camp and brought several deputies who were joined by the Natchitoches SWAT team and their vehicle. Likewise, volunteers from the Natchitoches Regional Medical Center helped check in children and passed out souvenir camp shirts. Thanks to the sponsors, the children enjoyed a fun day of physical activity and education at no cost.
The Natchitoches Parish Journal would like to commend the members of the NSU women’s basketball and football teams who helped at each of the stations. They were unfailingly helpful and gracious with the children. These young men and women embody everything that is right and good about the student-athlete concept. NSU’s WRAC staff turned their facility over to the campers and supplied water for breaks. They and the teams were superb ambassadors for their university.
