Young athletes from areas throughout Lauderdale County received an in-depth look at their chosen sports and sharpened their skills at the third annual Northeast High Sports Camp.

The camp gave youth interested in a variety of sports an opportunity to learn directly from the Trojans’ coaches to improve both their skill and development in the game.

Candice Maloney, assistant athletic director at Northeast High School, said the camps give children something fun to do while providing coaches with an opportunity to build up budding student athletes from a young age.

“It’s community outreach. It’s giving us an opportunity as coaches to invest in the younger generation of our players and kind of build community from the elementary all the way to the high school,” she said.

Trojans’ football coach Kevin Gandy said the children attending football camp were learning how to keep themselves organized and focused on competing while burning off a lot of excess energy.

“They’re having fun, and they’re learning,” he said. “That’s the most important part. They’re learning how to stay organized and compete.”

The camps kicked off Monday with football and cheer followed by football and girls volleyball on Tuesday. Baseball and softball camps are set for Wednesday, Thursday’s camps are boys and girls basketball and Friday will end the week with boys and girls soccer.

Each day’s camps run from 8:30-11 a.m. and are open to students in first through sixth grades. Registration is held daily, Maloney said, and parents can sign up their children on the spot. The cost for the camp is $25 per day.

Northeast High Volleyball coach Debrah Everett said getting kids involved in athletics early is important, and the camps provide a good way to do that while also letting children have a fun time.

“We just want to make sure we’re so involved in the community and getting them involved in volleyball, sports, soccer, whatever they want to do, and just get them involved as soon as we can, as early as we can,” she said. “And we want them to have a good time and have something to do during the summer.”