GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) — With COVID-19 restrictions starting to loosen, youth sports are starting to amp back up.
High school football teams in Florida started back last week and Georgia high schools started back Monday.
Summer camps across the Big Bend area and south Georgia are becoming more of a common sight. This week at Munroe in Gadsden County, Bobcat head coach Dimitric Salters is hosting a camp for area kids.
"It gives me an opportunity to get back out here and coach a little bit, yell, and get back going into the groove again," said Salters.
It's a groove everyone's trying to get back into.
"We've been lounging around a little bit," said Cameron Stinson, a junior at Munroe.
Which is why Munroe head boys basketball coach Dimitric Salter's Innovator's Basketball Camp couldn't have come at a better time.
"We haven't been able to function as a nation in a while," Munroe junior, Deon Conyers said. "It's good to get outside your house and your yard."
Coaches are wearing masks and kids are practicing social distancing. Things may be a little different, but everyone is just excited to get back on the court.
"Just being in the house by myself, going outside by myself, I pretty much got acclimated by that," said Stinson. "It's weird, but I'll get back adjusted because life goes on."
"This is a great avenue for them to come out, do something they really love, see each other following the safety guidelines for the CDC and just playing the game that they love in basketball," said Salters.
"It's not normal," Conyers said. "But it's something you have to adjust to."
But to play basketball, this group willing to do anything.
"We talked to the students beforehand, we screened all the students as they came in," said Adam Gaffey, the headmaster at Munroe.
"Make sure people wash their hands, wash the sweat off their arms," Salter said. "Make sure kids are able to breath a little bit better. Wear your mask, but take them off but step outside for a little bit."
"We've done a lot to protect the kids, but also allow them to get out here, and play and be athletic with one another," said Gaffey.
"Going a little crazy in the house by myself," Stinson said. "Yeah, it's great."
Players and coaches getting back to normal, one dribble at a time.
Salter said this week's camp is the first of three this summer.
It's not too late to join for this first week of camp. Salters says you can enroll through Wednesday to still participate.
The second week of camp is June 22 to 27, and the third and final is July 14 to 18.
For more information, you can click here, contact Salters at 850-345-7547, or dimitricsalters@comcast.net.
