Last week, the Eastside Eagles held their annual football youth camp on Thursday, July 18.

The weather forced the team to host the camp inside the gym instead of on the field, but the mission stayed the same for the Eagles and head coach Jay Cawthon.

“Just to show what we bring at Eastside,” Cawthon said. “The kids love it. I tell our players all the time, ‘Most of the kids that come here, they see them on Friday nights with their helmets on. They don’t see them with their helmets off.’ Just getting face-to-face. The main goal is to have fun.”

Even on the hardwood, the drills were carried out as if they were still on the gridiron.

“We will go through all positions,” Cawthon said. “We have eight stations. We do O-line, D-line, running back, quarterback. Everyone wants to be a quarterback so we let them do that. Just teaching them the fundamentals of the game.”

Campers had the opportunity to be led through the drills by different coaches and players.

Among the players were Christian Gass, Payton Shaw, Marion Eubanks and Bailey Benson.

Overall, over 20 Eastside players were in attendance on Thursday to help in the camp.

Cawthon wanted to use the day to show his players the overall impact they have on the community and with the kids.

“This right here shows them how to be a positive role model,” Cawthon said. “Not so much being a coach, we let them run the drills and interact [with the campers]. They don’t understand at this age how high of a pedestal they are on for the kids in the community.