by Sheri Duff

The first-ever Redhawks football camp for third through ninth graders began Monday evening at 5:30 p.m. July 12 at Champlain Valley Union High School (CVU). The new non-contact football camp, run by long-time head football coach Jim Provost and Redhawks top running back and pass receiver JP Benoit, scored with the 59 campers in attendance.

"I initially thought of running a football camp for my Graduation Challenge a while ago," said Benoit. "Lucky for me coach Provost was on board from the beginning. I didn't have to do anything to convince him to become camp director. We basically had the exact same idea at the exact same time. Coach Provost spoke with CVU Athletic Director Kevin Riell and everything else fell into place," Benoit commented.

"I picked football camp as my Grad Challenge because it's another way to build up the CVU program. And that's important to me. Plus football is fun," Benoit said enthusiastically. "If I'm having fun teaching the game and the kids are having fun learning then it's twice as fun."

"We were expecting about 20 campers this year," Benoit pointed out. "I think we had more kids sign-up because the CVU football program has been so successful. Plus I've put a lot of time and energy into advertising and marketing. Not to mention the additional 1,000 miles I put on my car plastering camp posters all over the Chittenden South Supervisory Union (CSSU) district." Readers may recall that football is a relatively new sport at CVU, having debuted as a varsity sport in 2005 in an area known for devoted lacrosse and soccer players. Yet, an informal survey at the camp showed that nearly 70 percent of the participants watched the CVU championship football game in November. "For the CVU football program to have that kind of following after just five years," Benoit shared, "well, that was pretty cool to hear."

Interest in football is growing, and these current campers may be future Redhawk players within a few years. Benoit's efforts, coupled with Provost's support and enthusiasm, seem to have paid off at the end of the first day of the camp. Judging by the smiles on the faces of the campers and the coaches, the future of football camp at CVU looks bright. Benoit's opinion? "My hard work paid off. It was worth it. And I'd do it again in a minute," he said with a grin.