By Kyle LoJacono
On a hot summer day in Lutz, football players run through drills, hit blocking pads and sprint as fast as they can to be the first in every race.

The scene is a familiar one for the Steinbrenner football team, but this time the Warriors players are the ones holding clipboards, taking notes and giving tips.
Several Steinbrenner players and coaches got up early for two weeks to help coach the Lutz Chiefs summer football camps.
“I wanted to be able to teach the younger kids, who may be the future of Steinbrenner,” said senior-to-be Daniel Fernandez, a cornerback. “I want to help get them ready for their career in football. It’s a good way to give back.”
The players did not mind getting to the field by 8 a.m. each day, even though they were also participating in the program’s 7-on-7 football sessions later each day. They see it as an investment in Steinbrenner’s future.
“We’re starting to prepare them with not only the drills and skills they’re going to need, but also the work their going to have to put in,” Fernandez said. “It’s helping them see what it takes on their body to play football. It’s going to mentally prepare them for junior varsity and varsity football in high school. They will be able to help Steinbrenner at a younger age if they know what it’s going to take.”
The camps were June 20-24 and June 27-July 1 at the Oscar Cooler Sports Complex in Lutz. The first session was for kids ages 7-10, while the second was for 11-15. Junior-to-be running back Kendall Pearcey said he was surprised the younger kids were able to give as much effort despite the heat.
“They have a lot of energy,” Pearcey said. “The sun doesn’t really faze them. They just want to have fun and love playing football. It makes it really fun for us.”
Bobby Thomas, 9, was one of the players who participated. He also played for the Lutz Chiefs last year.
“They helped me a lot,” said Thomas of the coaching he got from the Warriors players. “They showed me how to do a lot of things and different forms.”

This is the first year Steinbrenner football coach Floyd Graham has led the camp since the school opened in 2009.
“We wanted to do this because Steinbrenner really is a community school and a lot of my players first played football with the Lutz Chiefs,” Graham said. “We wanted to give back to the youth program and hopefully get a lot of kids excited about Steinbrenner football.”
Fernandez was among those who learned about football with the Chiefs.
“It’s been great this week,” Fernandez said. “It kind of takes me back to come out and help on these fields because I played with the Chiefs growing up.”
Sophomore-to-be quarterback Curtis Fitch said the benefits to the program will show up when the campers decide to play in high school.
“We’re such a new high school, so the players wanted to show that we really do care about the young kids coming into our high school,” Fitch said. “We want them to want to play here so they are comfortable when they are freshmen in a couple years. A lot of them are telling us they’re going to come to our games this year, so it’ll help us fill our stadium.”
Pearcey said there will also be an immediate boost to the Warriors program this year.
“Camps like these help us bond more and be more comfortable with each other,” Pearcey said. “That will help us in games this year because we can trust each other to follow out their assignments. It will help us bring home more wins.”
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