Players on the last day of the 2017 Split Skills Camp.
The Growth of a Game hosted its second annual American football development camp in Split, Croatia from August 4th-6th, 2017. The Growth of a Game welcomed both the beautiful sunny days and an abundance of players at this vacation destination camp. Surpassing the turnout for the prior year, around 55 players came out from all over Croatia and from multiple other countries both near and far— from as close as Bosnia to as far away as Norway.
The weekend began with a Sunday evening coaches’ clinic led by Matt Dias, defensive coordinator for the Wyszków Rhinos in Poland. Seven excellent coaches came from multiple countries across Europe to share their expertise with the committed athletes participating in the camp.
The players arrived at Stadion Hrvatski Vitezovi on Saturday morning prepared to work hard and learn from the best. The event consisted of on-field training sessions and off-the-field study sessions. American football has continued to grow in popularity in Croatia and the surrounding regions since The Growth of a Game’s 2016 camp, and this was evident by the higher turnout of participants this year. The players were not only present, but they were focused and experienced, showing the dedication and passion for the game that exists in this area.
The Growth of a Game Split Skills Camp was led by several premier coaches, including Matt Dias, defensive coordinator for the Wyszków Rhinos in Poland, Sean Shelton, quarterback for the Swarco Raiders in Austria, Greg Kleidon, head coach for the San Facons in Norway, Timothy Speckman, offensive coordinator for the Lübeck Cougars in Germany, Alexander Durazo, head coach for the Lura Bulls in Norway, Sebastian Serrano, head coach for the Portuguese National Team, and Victor Andersen, defensive coordinator for the Copenhagen Towers in Denmark.
The Split Skills Camp was made possible by the contributions of various partners, including Battle Sports, Gear4Teams, Champro Sports, Cramer Sports, the Tourist Board of Dugopolje, the Tourist Bureau of Solin, BEPO Split Apartments, Hostel Jadro, and the Croatian American Football Association.
The Split Skills Camp was the 7th camp held by The Growth of a Game after its first six camps were held in Düsseldorf, Split, Vienna, Bergamo, Copenhagen, and Brussels respectively. The organization’s next camp takes place in Utrecht, Netherlands from September 9th-10th, to be immediately followed by a camp in Bergamo, Italy from September 16th-17th.
The Growth of a Game Split Skills Camp will return to Croatia again in August of 2018.
To learn more and to sign up for one of our upcoming camps, visit our Camps page.
