Each summer, during the first partial or full week of August (July 30 – August 3 in 2012) Stillwater Area High School Head Football Coach Beau LaBore hosts the Pony Youth Football Camp for student-athletes entering third through sixth grade. Coach LaBore is assisted by dozens of high school football players who carry out organization, coaching, and fun with the campers. The camp is sponsored by the St. Croix Valley Athletic Association Football Commission of which Coach LaBore is a voting member and volunteer.

The Pony Youth Camp has three guiding principles to which Coach LaBore and his players adhere. First, football is fun. To ensure fun, the sessions are coached by high school players, are filled with competitions, and feature the beloved razzle dazzle football games. Moreover, players play all positions. This camp is all about the game of football, and each player should enjoy the game regardless of what position they have played in the past or will play in the future. Second, players will improve on basic athletic and football fundamentals. Every athlete will leave this camp a better athlete through our dynamic warm-up and the skills and drills coached and practiced. Participants will leave the camp with activities that they can continue to perform in the yard or at the park with friends and family to grow and develop as athletes and players. Finally, each day will provide a character lesson to connect the greater importance of football. Our program believes that football is more than a game in which lifelong lessons can help participants become better football players, and more importantly, better people. Some of these lessons will be shared by special guests.

Our players use their personal, social, athletic, and football knowledge, skills, and experience to give back to the program that has given so much to them. Through this experience, our high school players will reflect on their early days of playing the game while they realize how powerful their impact is on the Ponies in Training. In the end, our current Ponies help continue and grow our proud tradition of excellence in football, personal growth and development.

Sign up: Pony Youth Camp

Matthew G. Gille Press Contributing Writer
Monday, August 6, 2012

STILLWATER — Pony Youth Camp this past week at Stillwater high school attracted 120 kids for the annual event, ranging from third through sixth grade.

Enrollment is up from 105 kids in 2011, a very strong sign of progress for the program. With a cost of only $60, the camp is affordable for parents.

Beau LaBore, Head Coach of the Ponies varsity team, is in his second year as head coach and organizer of the youth camp, which employs high school players as coaches.

“I want to expose as many kids to football that I can and teach them the joys of the game,” LaBore said. “We also want to teach them more about the intricacies of the game and how to direct themselves.”

Organization and structure set the tone for the whole week and program, which is very new and currently in its second year, like Coach LaBore.

Another goal is to give high school players opportunities to coach, lead by example and give back to the community.
“When I watch the kids connect with us it feels really good,” said senior center Austin Conery. “They look at us as power figures and they listen to what we say without contradiction or fighting. The kids assume what you say is right and follow instructions.

“This camp has really opened my eyes to working with kids in some fashion for a career,” he added. “It’s also good that the players have come out to coach and connect with the community.”

The first part of the camp consisted of form running drills.
“(They’re) the same drills that the Minnesota Golden Gophers are doing, the same thing that the Minnesota Vikings are doing and the same thing that the Olympic athletes do over in London,“ LaBore explained. The second part focused upon ball skills.

“The most important part of the game is the ball and football players cannot practice ball skills enough,” LaBore instructed. “If you go to Mankato to watch the Vikings during training camp you will see running backs, wide receivers, quarterbacks, linebackers, defensive backs and special teams players all working on ball skills.”

Labore repeatedly preached “eye contact” as a message and form of discipline important for kids to pay attention.

The safety of the players is also stressed during camp. The coaches spend a great deal of time showing kids how to use their bodies, how to use their equipment and how to use proper technique to avoid injuries. Labore called the kids “the most important resource that we have.”

“Coach LaBore aggressively promotes safety of the players, and that will help fulfill a dream list he has for the future of Stillwater football,” said Deb Simcik, Ponies Touchdown Club board member.

The Ponies Touchdown Club is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization designed to help raise funds for the Stillwater football program. Membership packages include t-shirts and tickets to games; more info is on Facebook or Twitter@PoniesFootball.

Continuity is another key to Labore’s ultimate vision, and kids see the same things as they move up the ranks into high school football.

“Coach Labore has issued playbooks and terminology all the way down to the third grade level so when kids reach the high school level they already know formations and where to line up,” noted sixth-grade assistant coach Jason Calverley.

Labore’s disciplinary style of coaching has trickled down to his high school players, based on how they directed traffic throughout camp.

Camper Levi Olson said his favorite part of the camp is playing against the other kids and that he “definitely wants to come back next year.”

“Sometimes it’s difficult to tell who is having more fun, the coaches or the kids,” noted LaBore.

More information about Stillwater football can be found at www.poniesfootball.com.