Hundreds of kids sought to sharpen their football skills Saturday morning as part of Cam Heyward’s youth football camp.

“Had nothing to do over the winter, so I was a little bored,” Gage Lindsey of Fairmont, W. Va., said.

The day got even better for the participants when Heyward himself came in.

“Cam’s a great guy; I hope to learn everything from him,” Lindsey said.

Hundreds of kids here hoped to do just that.

“Kids are gonna be able to dream and be any position today,” Chris Dubek, COO of Flexwork Sports, said.

Dubek and his team helped the campers do some position-specific skill work.

“A lot of movement, a lot of pillar prep,” he said.

Each kid had something they wanted to work on.

“Just hand placement – hand movement… chop blocks,” Lindsey said.

But Dubek says there’s more to learn from this game than just on-field skills.

“It’s a game, football, right?” he said. “But how football translates to everything in life – work, academics, relationships. It all carries over.”

Kids like Lindsey just wanted to soak it all in, things like ball safety and proper tackling.

“Just learn, just learning,” he said. “Learning everything.”

Youth sport climber, Casey Millar, age 14, has qualified for the Youth Lead Climbing Nationals (YLCN) being held from May 19 to 21 at the Richmond Olympic Oval in Richmond, B.C. The climbing competition could take him to the 2025 Youth World Championships (YWC) in Finland in a sport that is in its third Olympic World Games in 2028. 

As the world of sports climbing becomes more popular, Chris Brazeau, owner and operator of Confluence Climbing Gym (CCG), says he sees those participating in programming in the facility enjoying the range of mental and physical challenges climbing provides. Brazeau explains the sport encourages athletes to experience a full physical and mental workout that provides “strength building” and is “a lot of fun.”

Casey Millar, age 14, was born and raised in Golden, B.C. He started climbing at the CCG at the age of 12 and began competing this year. After placing 8th in his rank during the Provincials in Calgary, A.B., on April 15th and 16th, Millar qualified for the YLCN.

“This is my first year of competitive climbing. I’m feeling pretty good about making it to Nationals. It was an awesome experience to get to Provincials,” Millar says. Millar will compete in boulder climbing at the YLCN. He says climbing is his “passion” and he “loves it.”

“It’s not like traditional gym training. It’s a mix. The difficulty of the movements can be quite technically challenging,” Millar says. 

Millar trains five to six days a week. He is a grade nine student who is homeschooled. His flexible schedule allows him to take his homework to the gym and train while studying. He explains that during competitions, he doesn’t know what the course setup will be. Part of the challenge is getting a short amount of time to strategize his climb before climbing during the race.

Brazeau has been climbing for 30 years. He says the sport used to be a “fringe activity,” and indoor climbing has become more popular over the years and has expanded into a “sport all in itself.”

“It used to be seen as a place where you (mountain climbers) can train to be outdoors, or train during the off season,” Brazeau says, and explains, the colourful holds have evolved in his time as a climber, “they’ve come a long way.”

“It’s not just physical, it’s mental as well, there’s a problem-solving component. There’s a range of challenges to it that involve technical, tactile, mental, and physical challenges. It’s not just about being strong. You have to create a game plan of what the moves you will make might look like,” he says.

“In the competition, you get one shot to do the route,” Millar says.

“It’s a real skill to look at a route and have an idea of what to do,” Brazeau adds.

Brazeau has been training Millar over the last two years, he says he is “proud” of Millar.

“It’s quite an accomplishment for him. This is his first year competing, and he’s bottom of his class. He will have another year in his category,” he says.

Millar says when he went to Calgary for the Provincials, he found the Calgary Climbing Centre – Rocky Mountain location “pretty impressive” and he’s excited to compete among Canada’s best youth climbers.

When he’s not climbing, Millar snowboards, mountain bikes and skateboards.

Burch

HOLLIDAYSBURG – A Blair County jury on Thursday acquitted the former Bellwood-Antis School District athletic director of the felony victim/witness intimidation charge filed against him in January 2024 that developed after a middle school wrestling coach was convicted of sexually assaulting two middle school students.

Charles Burch, 53, Bellwood, exhaled a sigh of relief in the courtroom upon hearing the “not guilty” verdict announced about an hour after the jury was dismissed for deliberations.

“I have never felt more relief in my entire life,” Burch said outside the courtroom, where he embraced supportive family and friends who attended his two-day trial. “I’m on top of the world.”

Meanwhile, the 18-year-old victim who said Burch told him in early 2020 not to talk to anyone about what was going on at wrestling practice – because he could be suspended or benched from the football team – acknowledged his disappointment with the verdict.

The victim, his mother and their friends, who clasped hands in the courtroom as they waited for the verdict, congregated a short time later outside the courthouse where they struggled to describe their disappointment.

“Very disappointed,” the mother and son agreed.

“It’s the system,” one of their friends added. “If there’s doubt, there’s doubt.”

Defense attorney Thomas Hooper told the jury that the case was full of reasonable doubt and presented a tsunami of cause for hesitation.

Hooper repeatedly reminded the jurors of how the teenager’s version of what happened changed as the defense uncovered contradictory evidence.

“This case should never have been in court,” Hooper said.

The defense attorney took that same position when asking President Judge Wade A. Kagarise to dismiss the charge without giving the case to the jury. But Kagarise declined because he said credibility issues should rest with a jury.

“The speed with which they reached the verdicts speaks volumes,” Hooper said later.

The state Office of Attorney General filed the third degree felony charge against Burch, with supporting documents indicating that the threat occured in Burch’s office on Feb. 20, 2020, after Burch summoned the youth from his mid-morning third period English class.

Hooper, however, collected records from the school district and called in witnesses to confirm that no phone calls were made between Burch’s office and the youth’s third period English classroom.

The youth, however, said he was upset by his conversation with Burch and used his cellphone to telephone his mother from the school restroom.

To check into that claim, Hooper secured cellphone records showing the youth made one call – at 7:51 a.m. on Feb. 19, 2020 – to his mother’s phone – lasting 25 seconds.

Hooper also challenged the idea that Burch had threatened the youth before that call by reviewing a work schedule showing Burch had hall monitoring duty starting at 7:30 a.m. In addition, he called in a retired high school secretary to tell the jury she rarely left her desk and never saw the youth go into Burch’s office.

When the mother testified, she confirmed that her son had called her from school and said Burch threatened to keep him from playing football.

The mother, in trying to figure out what was going on, subsequently turned to another parent to get the name of a state police detective investigating sexual assault allegations against wrestling coach Ryan Blazier.

Blazier, convicted in October 2020 of seven sexual assault offenses, is serving a sentence of 21 to 42 years’ incarceration.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Lauren Eichelberger asked the jury in her closing argument to remember that the mother subsequently sent an email to her brother – the youth’s uncle – who in response said her son should tell the detective everything and “f- playing football for them.”

Eichelberger also challenged witnesses who testified about Burch’s hall monitoring duty and the secretary who said she never saw the youth go into Burch’s office.

“Can you list everyone you encounter within a day … everyone you walk by or walks by you … as much as two weeks ago?” Eichelberger said.

She likened the typical lack of recall to not being able to remember what you ate for breakfast.

“But if you had worms in your oatmeal, you’d remember that,” she said.

Burch, who took the witness stand in his own defense, told the jury that he never summoned the youth to his office. Burch also said he never missed his hall monitoring assignments.

“I want to thank attorney Hooper for leaving no stone unturned,” he added outside court. “He’s been amazing.”

Hooper said he initiated a civil suit on Burch’s behalf against the state AG’s office for filing the charge based on false allegations.

Burch also expressed gratitude for the community’s support.

While he has been on leave because of the pending charge, Burch said he intends to return to his job with the district – which includes teaching and coaching duties in addition to athletic director.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.