Things didn鈥檛 seem to be too promising for California-based football coach John Bankhead and his team of football coaches as they pulled into Yorkton for the first time on Friday.
鈥淲hen we came driving in we were like, 鈥榳here are the houses, where are the people?鈥�,鈥� said Bankhead, continuing, 鈥淒riving in, the place had such a desolate look to it and so we thought we might have 20 people out to the camp and we were a little bit worried.鈥�
That worrying feeling disappeared nearly instantly, however, once Bankhead and his crew reached Yorkton鈥檚 Kinsmen Century Field for the first day of the three day Bankhead Sports Academy camp to see over 100 Saskatchewan football players 鈥� many of the local variety 鈥� milling about on the field, all waiting for the camp to commence. 鈥淎ll of a sudden we had 100 kids out here and we were amazed,鈥� mentioned Bankhead. 鈥淲e knew we were in for a good camp then, but we didn鈥檛 know just how good it would be.鈥�
What followed from that first visit to Century Field on Friday would be something that Bankhead believes to be a very rare occurrence 鈥� a perfect camp. 鈥淭his camp was absolutely amazing,鈥� offered the California-based football coach, who has spent time working with former and current NFL and NCAA players. 鈥淚鈥檝e been doing this for a long, long, time and I鈥檝e travelled the entire United States. I鈥檝e been in all 50 States doing a lot of camps but I would probably say that this is the number one camp that I have ever done, and I mean that in every way possible.鈥�
From the skill and effort on the field, to the respectfulness and attention of the players and parents, Bankhead said that the camp in Yorkton was something that he was not quite prepared for. 鈥淭he number one reason that made this the best camp that I鈥檝e ever been affiliated with was these young men and women and their acceptance to coaching, their character, their respect, all of those things are what made it very special and very unique,鈥� said coach Bankhead, continuing, 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not normal to have so many kids so appreciative. We had over 100 kids and we never had one kid back talk to us. We never had one kid disrespect us.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 have to discipline one kid here, so that was one thing that made it the most unique. All of my coaching staff told me that that doesn鈥檛 normally exist, so that right there was the number one thing that stood out to us.鈥�
Bankhead also felt that the work ethic that the local football players displayed was something that separated them from the majority of players that the Bankhead Sports Academy works with. 鈥淣o matter what adversity came, whether they were hurt, whether it was hot out or whether they were sunburnt, they just kept pushing,鈥� offered Bankhead, adding that because of the dedication of the Saskatchewan football players, he and his coaching staff felt obliged to up their game as well. 鈥淔or us to see them push so hard, what we did was we pushed harder too. What we were able to get because of that was more and more success out of these kids. The more they did the more we pushed and the more we pushed the more they did.
鈥淭hey got better and better and better with every single rep, and so that was the number one thing that stood out to us.鈥�
Because of how successful the camp was, Bankhead says he and his staff will most definitely be back in Yorkton, should Yorkton Minor Football and coach Jason Boyda 鈥� one of the people responsible for bringing this camp to the city 鈥� want to bring them back. 鈥淎bsolutely I will come back. This camp next year will be double in size, it will be even better and there are no if, ands or buts, I will definitely be back here,鈥� said Bankhead. 鈥淛ason Boyda could ask me to come back once a month and I鈥檇 be back here once a month, that鈥檚 how impressed I was with these young men and women here in Yorkton.鈥�
