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Ursuline football camp stresses safety
Irish coach Larry Kempe uses Seahawks’ tackling video to teach proper technique
YOUNGSTOWN
The health and safety of football players has been a growing concern in recent years.
Larry Kempe is in his 41st year of coaching at the high school level and believes now, more than ever, kids need to be taught proper techniques at a young age, before they develop bad habits. He took the opportunity Monday to instill those habits in more than 120 area kids on the Tom Carey practice field at Ursuline High School.
“We’ve been focusing a lot of our attention on concussion prevention and player safety here at Ursuline,” Kempe said on day one of the school’s two-day camp.
“We use the Seattle Seahawks’ tackling video to teach our kids the proper technique. The kids are able to see exactly what they’re supposed to be doing on the video and then it’s our job as coaches to reinforce it.”
The video Kempe is referencing is something Seattle head coach Pete Carroll helped create last July. In conjunction with Nike and the Seahawks, Carroll released a tackling teaching tape on the coaching video site HUDL, which reaches thousands of high school and youth teams on its network.
“Kids these days are too caught up in the concept of big hits, because that’s what they see videos of online and everything,” said Kempe, who will begin his fourth year as head coach of the Irish in the fall.
“Well, then parents get nervous and are afraid that could happen to their kid. We need to make sure we’re teaching the right thing.”
On Monday, that was the job of Kempe, along with more than 20 of his assistant coaches and varsity football players at Ursuline. Also in attendance was Youngstown State offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo and Grove City College defensive coordinator Rob Skaricich.
The campers, which included kids from second grade through eighth, were put through combine-style testing, including the broad jump, five-cone drill and 40-yard dash. They were then taught position-specific offensive and defensive fundamentals.
Skaricich is in his 24th year of coaching and has spent the last half running the defense at Grove City. He says concussion safety is always a concern, which only increases the importance of educating kids.
“When we talk to our players about hitting, we take the head out of it,” Skaricich said. “We don’t even use the word head, so that doesn’t even have a chance to register when they’re going to make a tackle.
“We’re constantly preaching ‘Eyes up’ and I think it really has benefited our players.”
Skaricich is a graduate of Wickliffe High School outside Cleveland and currently lives in Hubbard, where he recruits Northeast Ohio. He’s also the head baseball coach at Grove City, but football has always been his first love.
“I think football provides young men with opportunities that no other sport can,” Skaricich said. “It’s the only sport where your success relies directly on your teammate doing what he’s supposed to do. No other team sport can say that.”
The camp wraps up tomorrow with an expected guest appearance from YSU head coach Bo Pelini.