Pottsgrove adapts to keep camp tradition alive

Every summer since 1998, the Pottsgrove football team took a three-hour bus ride to spend its training camp away at Camp Wade in Hancock, N.Y

It was an important part of ‘building the culture’ of a program that’s done a lot of winning over the course of the past three decades.

“I believe in this immensely,” Falcons coach Bill Hawthorne said. “It was started by Rick (Pennypacker) and I was at the first one. It’s just kind of been a tradition that’s endured here at Pottsgrove.”

The annual tradition was nixed last summer due to COVID-19, but it made its return this week — even if it looked a little different.

Instead of making the trek to New York, the Falcons hosted an adapted camp at home at Pottsgrove High School where cabins were replaced by lawn chairs under canopy tents near the practice field.

“It’s actually really exciting,” Pottsgrove senior Vinny Scarnato said. “I feel like even with the younger kids, they don’t know what this camp experience is. I feel like us as a senior class and even some of the juniors are really stepping up and making this a good time for everyone. We’re not missing out on too much. The only thing here is we don’t have a lake.”

The Falcons hoped to go to camp once again this year, but the increasing number of COVID cases made taking a long trip impossible, according to Pottsgrove’s COVID safety plan, adopted from guidelines set forth by the Montgomery County Offie of Public Health.

Hawthorne worked with the administration, the team’s booster club and parents to adapt the camp experience in a way that kept the health and safety of student-athletes and the rest of the community in mind.

He lauded all parties, including the players, in putting together a successful experience.

“Our school district and our administration did everything the right way for our community (last year),” Hawthorne said. “It was kind of what happened because of the circumstance. Now, here we are again. But now we’ve been through it once, and we kind of modify and adapt and this is how we’re doing it in terms of camp.”

The camp day begins with players arriving at the school around 7 a.m. before heading out to the practice field to warm up at 8:15 a.m.

There are two practice sessions followed by catered meals. The Falcons finish off their day with a walk-through, dessert and then some type of team bonding activity. They had a team movie night Monday and played corn hole and other lawn games on Tuesday night.

The plan was to conclude camp Thursday with parents coming for a commitment dinner and having players stay the night at ‘camp.’

“I’m having fun, I know everyone else is having fun, and I know we’re working really hard as well,” senior Shane Caffrey said.

The atmosphere is a little different, but Pottsgrove’s seniors said the camp had the desired impact of bringing the team closer together, particularly some of the freshmen and sophomores they didn’t get to spend much time with last season.

“One of the things we missed out on last year was not having that camaraderie or that time to spend together like in our cabins or what we have here is tents,” senior Max Neeson said. “It was time for us to get to know each other as players and people off the field so when we’re practicing we’re not just playing with players, we’re playing with friends an family now.”

“When it’s just us around, that’s when we actually get to know each other and bond with each other,” Caffrey added.

The hope is that next year Pottsgrove can return to its longstanding tradition and head back to Camp Wade for the first time since 2019.

For this summer, however, they seem to have found the perfect alternative in bringing back a longstanding Falcons’ tradition.

“We build our culture here with our kids, our boys,” Hawthorne said. “This is kind of finale before we go into the season. This has worked out awesome. Next year, if I have the chance, I’m going to go away to camp but my parents group, they are 100 percent unbelievable and they really did everything to make this a great event.”

His players made sure their appreciation was known as well.

“I definitely think a lot of the coaches and parents are definitely doing their best and doing a great job when it comes to us not being in camp because a lot of parents are stepping up, volunteering,” Scarnato said. “They don’t have to do these things, and it’s really nice that they are.”