‘Playmaker U’ camp instructs local football prodigies

By Trevor Robb

Hoping to get a leg up on the competition for the upcoming football season, the top receivers, defensive backs and quarterbacks in the Edmonton area received some training tips from three former Edmonton Eskimos.

‘Playmaker U’ is a player development camp founded in 2007 by former Edmonton Eskimo and 2008 Canadian Football League (CFL) Most Outstanding Canadian player of the year, Kamau Peterson. This week the camp ran its first ever invite-only Top Flight Passing Clinic for Edmonton’s top high school, college and junior players at the QB, WR, and DB position.

Along with Peterson, former Eskimos players DB Shannon Garrett and QB Jason Maas helped out to coach, mentor and hand pick a group of young athletes whom they believe, show real promise in the sport.

“We invited the top 50 high school, college and junior players in the area, or what I view as the top 50”, said Peterson in an interview with the West Edmonton Local. “Shannon (Garrett) and Jason (Maas) have worked with me for a few years now in this area. Jason found ten QB’s, 20 DB’s for Shannon and 20 receivers for myself.”

Since 2007

The Playmaker U camp started off small with only one summer camp running in 2007. Now Peterson runs anywhere from eight to nine camps a year, offering all sorts of specialized camps including:

• Speed 101- For peewee, bantam and high school players.
• Football Academy- Four-day camp focusing on speed/power development.
• Positional Workshops- For experienced players, focuses on positional play.
• Passing Camps- For QB’s WR’s and DB’s.
• Big Man Camps- For Offensive and Defensive Lineman.
• General Camps- Available to all positions, available to both Bantam and High School players.
• Mini-Camp- For Atom and Peewees, focuses on the basics.

“Our mission statement at Playmaker U is to strengthen the Canadian content, the CFL Canadian content, from the grassroots level,” said Peterson. Camps are held at venues across the Edmonton area, including: Clarke Stadium, Fuhr Sports Park (Spruce Grove), Athletes Nation (St. Albert), and Millennium Place (Sherwood Park).

Competing for the spotlight

While football remains one of the top games in the United States, in Canada, the game takes a backseat to the immense popularity of hockey. In Canada, the best way to make it to the professional game of football is through the collegiate/university level (Canadian Interuniversity Sport), but in order to do so players must first be recognized, and that is where Playmaker U comes in.

“There’s so many scholarship opportunities for the game to take you places as a youth these days. This far north, these kids might not get the amount of exposure and encouragement that they should,” said Peterson. “That’s the route I went, Jason, Shannon we’re all scholarship athletes. I wouldn’t have been able to attend school without it.”

Despite the challenges facing Canadian football players looking to make the jump to the pros, Peterson sees the game gaining steam amongst youth in Canada. But in Canada, high school coaches coach on a volunteer basis, compared to the U.S where coaches can earn over six figure salaries. Peterson commends the work that volunteer coaches are doing in Canada.

“The volunteers out here do an tremendous job. I’ve watched a lot of amateur football in the province in the past three-four years and I’m  really impressed with the job they do and really at their own time and at their own expense,” said Peterson. “We’re just trying to help them out the best we can.”

Veteran shares his wisdom

A former Eskimo and 14-year CFL veteran Shannon Garrett also spoke with the West Edmonton Local about the camp and its strategies to help young athletes reach their potential.

“We filmed one-on-one, receivers against defensive backs, and we critique them on the film. That way they can actually watch themselves on film and we let them know what they’re doing incorrectly,” said Garrett. “Then I also have another DVD of actual CFL players doing one-one ones, and they actually see a professional actually doing it correctly.”

Other CFL players, both retired and current, have helped Peterson coach the various camps Playmaker U has to offer. Other coaches include former Eskimos Ed Hervey, A.J Gass, and Jason Tucker. Other guest coaches have included current Edmonton Eskimos quarterback Ricky Ray, Calgary Stampeders quarterback Henry Burris and fellow Stampeders runningback Joffrey Reynolds. Other coaches have included Travis Lulay (B.C Lions), Shea Emery (Montreal Allouettes), Keith Shologan (Saskatchewan Roughriders) and Eddie Davis (Saskatchewan Roughriders).