Reece Germen (left) and Corbin Allison are returning CHS football players who served as camp counselors during last week’s Summer Football Kids Camp run by high school coaches and players. Gini Davis/The Creswell Chronicle
Reece Germen didn’t think he would like football when he was younger – in fact, he didn’t play until one of his friends encouraged him to try it when he was in eighth grade at Creswell Middle School.
Now, after being a strong contributor to his eighth-grade team and swinging for varsity last year as a freshman at Creswell High School, he’s passionate about the game and hopes to one day play in college.
”I know I’m going to have to strive to play in college, but that’s my goal,” said Germen, 15. A center, offensive guard and defensive tackle last year, he hopes to earn a linebacker slot this year.
”I’m really good at the reading,” he said. ”After being on the line I know how people line up when they’re going to throw and when they’re going to pass.”
It’s a handy skill for a linebacker, who must be versatile and use their judgment on every snap to determine whether their role will be to provide hard hits on a running play or another layer of pass protection.
And as a linebacker, Germen would have ample opportunity to continue his favorite aspect of the sport, which is ”obviously the hitting, the tackling,” he said. ”It gives you that thrill.”
Corbin Allison, a JV guard/tackle last year as a freshman, said his teammate is ”really good” at football: ”In my opinion, he’s one of the most improved freshmen this year,” he said.
Serving as counselors for last week’s football camp run by Creswell High School head coach Scott Worsham and his assistant coaches, Germen and Allison enjoyed seeing youngsters learning.
”The sixth graders now will be in seventh grade next year, so I get to see some of the players I’m going to be playing with when they get to high school,” said Germen, who was quick to see the value of the camp in teaching fundamentals and creating skilled middle and high school players, although as someone who initially thought he didn’t like football, he never attended a football camp himself.
”When you come to camp, you get practice – just going and learning new skills if you don’t know how to do it, and getting better at stuff you do know how to do,” he said.
