TORRINGTON – NFL player Chris Prosinski and current Cowboy former Blazer Skylar Miller attended the Football 101 youth football camp Monday to help out locals learn football.
“It’s always fun to give back to these communities, especially being from Wyoming and growing up in this same type of community,” Prosinski, a Buffalo native, said. “It’s just always good to give back and have fun with these kids, teaching them the fundamentals and having a good time.”
The camp was for 6-14 year olds, with the campers broken down into age groups. Throughout the three-day camp, which wrapped up Wednesday, participants ran through drills for every position on both offense and defense, starting the week on fundamentals and working into more complex drills as the week went on. At the end of the camp, there was also a punt, pass and kick competition.
“If you can teach kids, especially at this age, the basics, whether it is the stance, technique or anything that comes before the football, it is just going to set them up for success,” said Prosinski, who now has ties to Torrington through his wife, Lexie Madden, who is from the area.
Prosinski said that this week’s camp reminded him of the camps he attended as a youth and what helped spark his efforts in football.
“I still remember those camps and you had the high school players there and looked up to them,” Prosinski said. “That’s where it all starts. That’s where this passion for football began is some of these camps and coming out with your best friends and learning from people you look up to. It was something so special to me growing up.”
In addition to running drills all camp, the youth had time to meet and greet the big names. There were photo opportunities with both Prosinski and Miller, who graduated from Torrington in 2016. Recent THS grads Breyden Bivens (Snow College) and Jake Wamboldt (Black Hills State University) were both there for the photos and the long line for autographs on shirts, hats and footballs.
“Personally, I don’t consider myself a celebrity,” Prosinski said of the line of kids wanting his autograph. “Like I said, I was in that same position 20 years ago, wanting autographs from all of the high school players and whoever was running the camp. It’s just good to give these kids something that they’ll remember for a while.”
Awards for the camp include:
Punt, pass and kick
6-8-year-old – 1, Dutch Ogburn; 2, Asher Mattis; 3, James Stienmetz.
9-11-year-old – 1, Kaleb Booth; 2, Xavier Sanchez; 3, Bodie Moffat.
12-14-year-old – 1, Dylan Packard; 2, Marcos Martinez; 3, Tyler Bennick.
Blazer of the week – 6-8, Garrett Hager; 9-11, Grady Shields; 12-14, Dylan Packard.
Best Attitude – 6-8, Colby Groene; 9-11, Braxton Carlson; 12-14, Conner Booth.
Mr./Mrs. Effort – 6-8, Orren Spalding; 9-11, Bodie Moffat; 12-14, Nolan Long.
Most Improved – 6-8, Mickey Gustman; 9-11, Bo Baumgartner; 12-14, Ashton Cearns.
