By Zach Ewing

zewing@joplinglobe.com

The sound caused some Joplin High School football players to chuckle and others to look up, smiling in pride.

About 230 Joplin Youth Football Association players, gathered at the far end of the JHS practice fields, had just finished their “Eagles” chant Monday.

Minutes later, the youth players would join the high school Eagles and their coaches for various drills and practices.

The scene was repeated Tuesday and will be again tonight. The practices count against JHS’ limited number of allowed preseason practices, but high school coach Doug Buckmaster said he doesn’t mind.

He said that the Eagles are not just giving back to the community, but also helping future JHS teams.

“It’s giving to the youth football players and the coaches,” Buckmaster said. “It’s good for our community, and hopefully in the long run, it’s going to help our football program. Giving away some of our practice time, we’re more than happy to do it.”

The youth camp, which was Buckmaster’s brain-child, consists of two halves on each day. In the first half, third- and fourth-graders practice either offense or defense, and fifth- and sixth-graders on the other side of the ball. JHS assistant coaches, with a big hand from high school players, tutor groups specific to each position (offensive line, linebackers, running backs, etc.)

After an hour, offense and defense switch.

“We wanted to make sure we had a tight relationship with the school district,” JYFA president Mike Burns said. “It’s important to the kids to know that they’re wearing cardinal red and silver and that they’re an Eagle.”

The emphasis of the drills, which were designed by the high school coaching staff, is on fundamentals and basic plays.

“It’s great for our guys to be able to teach technique, fundamentals, maybe to learn how to run a play or defensive scheme or something in these three days,” Buckmaster said. “In turn, it’s great for the little guys to come out to ballgames on Friday nights and watch these guys play, and they can say ... ‘That guy taught me how to catch the ball’ or how to block.”

It’s a learning experience but is also fun for the youth players, who uniformly say it beats regular practice.

“It’s a lot more fun,” third-grader Harrison Davis said.