By Linda Williams Rorem
While many young male athletes on Mercer Island are focusing on baseball, lacrosse and track this spring, a group of dedicated football players will be training in April and May through the Barton Football Academy, which comes to the Island for the first time this year.
Now in its 15th year, the Barton Football Academy runs clinics for youth, high school and college quarterbacks, receivers, running backs and linemen at universities and high schools throughout the Northwest. This winter and spring more than 100 training sessions were scheduled for locations including the University of Washington, Juanita High School, Portland Community College, Oregon State University and the University of Oregon – and now, Mercer Island High School.
“We have hundreds of young players who want to improve their skills and they make the decision to get up out of bed in the winter to drive to a very tough workout,” says Greg Barton, founder of the program. “Players don’t report for football until August. I have a lot of respect for these [kids].”
The Mercer Island camp is open to all kids in the greater Seattle area, grades kindergarten through high school, with 35 attendees per session. Various specialty camps run on Saturdays through April and May. According to its marketing materials, the Barton Football Academy is based on the concept that “repetition is the key to success on the field,” with the belief that “once proper form, footwork, and movement become second nature, success is sure to follow.”
For the first time this year, Barton offers position-specific training for running backs and linebackers, to go along with quarterbacks, wide receivers, tight ends and defensive backs. Many of the sessions have been extended by 30-60 minutes each to help area athletes truly maximize their time in the camps. Dynamic warm-ups and SAQ (speed, agility, quickness)-style training will also be a part of every camp at every level, varsity and youth.
“Young players will have a lot of fun and they will learn some new things to add to their games,” says Barton. “They will work hard and I bet they will want to come back.”
Former attendees – who returned year after year – include Kellen Clemens, quarterback with the New York Jets, who started attending camps as a sixth grader in Oregon; Skyline High School star Jake Heaps, who drove with his parents from Sammamsh to the Beaverton, Ore., camps from fifth grade on; and many others who have gone on to play at West Point, the Air Force Academy, Dartmouth, Princeton and other Ivy League schools, according to Barton.
Barton Football Academy is owned and operated by T-12 Sports LLC., founded by Greg Barton , Taylor Barton and Mark Evans. For more information or to register for camps, go to www.bartontraining.com.
