Charles City Football Camp to conclude with Gridiron Showcase on Friday

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Want someone to mow your lawn while effectively mulching the clippings at the same time?

Then call on one of the Comet football players in your neighborhood. They’re equipped to perform both tasks while conditioning themselves for the forthcoming season.

“If you’re breaking in your new cleats, wear them while doing things like mowing the lawn at home,” Charles City head coach Bryan Bjorklund said during Wednesday’s session of the annual Charles City Football Camp held this week at the College Grounds.

“It will help you get used to them and your feet won’t be sore at the start of the season.”

And the season is already upon us … hard to believe. Even among the hardest core of fans, there’s a tinge of bittersweet as football is traditionally the harbinger of another summer coming to an end. While the seasons continue to get longer (the NFL is seriously considering an 18-game regular season after bumping it up to 17 just three years ago), summers seem to get shorter and shorter with each one experienced.

But whether we’re ready for it or not — Football is Back!

And since we’ve addressed the subjects of maintaining impeccable lawns … this well-hydrated summer has apparently helped fill and thicken the grass nicely at the recently fill-elevated College Grounds, the site where the Comets hold their camps and practices.

The final day of the camp will move to Comet Field on Friday for a “Comet Gridiron Showcase. This is the second year that Charles City has held an “NFL combine”-like event at the end of the football camp. But there are some wrinkles added to this one.

It will include a bench press like last year, but the format will focus on the number of reps under the clock rather than trying to successfully press the heaviest weight.

Also included, in order though participants may “shotgun start” at different stations, will be the broad jump, pro agility tests, vertical jump, Big Man Sled for the “big men” and Skill Gauntlet for the “skill players” — the latter of which will be subject to catch footballs thrown to them from various spots along a surrounding 360-degree circumference while using hands only as opposed to trapping the ball against the body, and run-in fly sprints.

At last year’s showcase, participants were timed in the 40-yard dash. This year’s sprints will time participants’ at their fastest speeds at a span of shorter distances — something more combines are doing while considering that a player’s top speed at 20 or 30 yards is more important than what time they run in 40 yards.

The showcase time for middle school campers is from 6:15 to 7:15 p.m. with the high school camper showcase immediately following.

The public is encouraged to attend free of charge. The concession stand will be open, and there will be a public address announcer giving play-by-play of the proceedings as well as updates of the showcase results.

Next week, Charles City’s high school program — as well as other programs in the state — will officially start practicing.