HELENA — Roughly 250 first-through-eighth graders worked on their hitting, footwork and football technique Wednesday morning on the third and final day of Helena Capital High School annual Lil Guys Camp. And leading the next generation of Bruins through those drills was a handful of current varsity players.
“Yeah, it’s really cool,” Capital senior Derek Opitz said of helping out at the three-day camp. “I remember as a kid coming to this camp, looking up to these guys, so to be able to be that guy that they look up to is pretty special.”
It’s a full-circle moment for many Bruin seniors now able to give back to the camp that helped spark their loves for football all those years ago.
“I just remember how big all the high schoolers were,” Capital linebacker and running back Brit Linder said. "I wondered how everybody got that big. I remember how fast they looked. And just looking up to them is what I remember.”
Both Linder and Opitz made Division I college football commitments this summer — Linder to Montana State and Opitz to Montana. It's something they each said wouldn’t have been possible without their Bruin family and the support they've received going all the way back to when they were campers.
“It’s definitely expected that we’re here and having a positive attitude and trying to influence the next generation to be as hardworking, loving the game as much as they can,” said Linder. “It’s just a great time.”
Opitz agreed that by staffing the camp, he and his fellow seniors are keeping the Bruin football tradition alive and well.
“It connects us together, you know?” said Opitz. “We need to be really close knit. That’s what last year’s group was, and that’s what made us really good, is we’re all really close. And we keep that tradition alive.”
