The first half of Campbellsville University's football camp season has come to a close with the program's first-ever skills/position camp June 21-23. The Tigers' camps will resume July 17 with a 7-on-7 camp and then the CU Team Camps July 23-Aug. 6.

"We over exceeded our expectations as far as how the camp went. We had some hot weather and a really tough group of kids that did everything we asked them to do," camp coordinator Tim Rogers said. "We addressed every phase of the game (offense, defense and special teams) and what Campbellsville University represents."

The camp included multiple practices and workout sessions Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and also moments for campers, grades eight to 12, to hear about CU from guest speakers.

The first guest speaker Monday night was CU alumni Robbie Speer of Sports Reach Ministries, who spoke to the participants about sports outreach. Other speakers were Teresa Elmore, CU director of career services, to speak about the importance of making goals academically to help with the transition from high school to college; Lynn Kearney from Taylor County High School's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter and CU admissions counselors Shajuana Ditto and Corey Young.

The addition of the skills camp is just one of a few CU has made this year with the new synthetic turf field being installed at Finley Stadium.

"We've added a lot more to our camp structure this year just because we're getting the new field. While the field didn't work out for this past week, it opens up space for us to work without tearing up a field in the future," CU head coach Perry Thomas said.

Work on the new field began as the 50 participants in the camp arrived to campus Monday, giving everyone in attendance a chance to see the first rolls of synthetic turf stretched across Finley Stadium's HIG Field.

Campers came from all over the state of Kentucky, with defending state champions Boyle County High School sending the most from any state school, and a few from Tennessee.

"One of the great things about the two camps for high schoolers we've had is we've been able to identify some very good football players that we're going to recruit heavily that we may not have identified if we didn't have the camp because they may be from small schools or out of state," Thomas said.

Boyle County head coach Larry French attended a few of the practices and said he thought his players that attended came back better football players.

"A lot of the camps at the major universities have so many kids go to the camps that they don't get the individual instruction that you can get a smaller camp like this," Boyle said. "Those coaches do a great job (at Campbellsville). They're dedicated to the game of football. Not only is it a good recruiting tool for Campbellsville University, but they believe they can make a difference in young men's lives and I think that's what really sets them apart."

Rogers said the Tiger football program couldn't thank the university's camp director Rusty Watkins enough for the help in organizing the camp - one of many camps the university is hosting on campus this summer.

"I really thank Rusty Watkins. He did a great job working with us and meeting the need of a diverse camp. He was able to meet every challenge that we had," Rogers said.

CU's football camp season began with the Junior Tiger Camp for campers K-5 to eighth grade June 11-12 and has also included a Junior/Senior Development Day (June 12) and 7-on-7 Middle School camp (June 19).

For more information about the upcoming camps, click here, or e-mail Tim Rogers at terogers@campbellsville.edu.