Niantic, Conn – The Connecticut National Guard hosted their annual Football camp Connecticut, August 24-30, at Camp Nett in Niantic, bringing 10 high school football teams together with Connecticut Army National Guard Recruiting and Retention personnel and other servicemembers for preseason football training and military style leadership development.
The camp provides teams with an opportunity to prepare for the upcoming season while placing them in a stressful but structured environment that focuses on physical fitness, accountability, military customs and courtesy’s, personal responsibility and team work. “We try to instill pride, teamwork, cohesion and accountability in these young athletes coming here to participate in this football camp,” said Kyle Boulderice, a Connecticut National Guard drill sergeant.
This structure begins the moment student-athletes step onto Camp Nett. Athletes are moved from their buses into an intentionally fast paced environment while cadre places additional responsibility and stress on team captains who are selected by their coaches before camp begins. Captains bear the responsibility to maintain accountability of their teammates, and help them complete tasks so they can focus on working together instead of relying on coaches.
“I think they’re going to see what a leader really means,” said Keith Tautkus, Ellington High School football coach. “It doesn’t just mean talking or whatever. It means having their back, making sure everyone is taken care of in your unit
In order to maintain the structure the camp has certain basic rules that parallel what you may see in an actual National Guard unit. The athletes are required to carry a water source with them everywhere they go, give the proper greeting of the day to any cadre, coaches or faculty they encounter and complete at least one pull up before entering a building such as a dining facility or barracks. Every day follows a schedule and it starts early in the morning with physical training and includes accountability formations. A camp tradition includes a team rock that they must maintain throughout the duration of the camp and bring back if they decide to return in a following year.
The customs taught outside during camp help prepare students for professional interactions they may encounter in the workplace with employers or other future endeavors.
“There are some aspects of what we do as Soldiers that we’re trying to teach them,” said Amaro.
Another step the camp takes to ensure that the student athletes develop their discipline beyond the field is by holding players responsible for maintaining their living spaces, cleaning the kitchen after the parents and coaches cook for them. While the military structure is a foundational part of the camp, each team is able to use the facilities at Camp Nett to conduct practices, drills, film study and scrimmages from other schools including some from other states. Every aspect of the camp is designed to get the students to understand how to work together as a team and depend on one another.
“One of the biggest takeaways from football camp is how they are able to see that if they work together, they are able to accomplish things,” Amaro said.
The emphasis on accountability and team cohesion is one of the reasons that the program is growing and schools return year after year. Within the last two years, five new schools have attended the program. Another benefit of the camp is to introduce students to the opportunities within the Connecticut National Guard and the many paths of service. This camp serves as an alternative to the usual recruiting tables that explain what it's like being in the military rather than actually seeing the facilities for yourself and experiencing what it's like to be a soldier. Programs like this bridge the gap between hearing and seeing what it’s like to be a guardsman.
“We gain the ability to expose them to things that these kids may have not been able to see through a table display at a cafeteria or a table display at a fair,” Amaro said.
| Date Taken: |
09.09.2026 |
| Date Posted: |
09.09.2026 15:54 |
| Story ID: |
574197 |
| Location: |
NIANTIC, CONNECTICUT, US |
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29 |
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