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When York High football coach Russ Stoner opened his first iteration of the York Mega Practice in 2023, he did so as a way to open the door for high school athletes in York and Adams counties to connect with top-level college coaches and showcase their skills.
Now, in his third year of running the event, Stoner is excited to see the project grow even larger.
"I decided on a whim to host our own camp so we can bring everybody to us, and we are now on Year 3," Stoner said. "We actually have taken it up a notch. Through the help of Explore York, we got a little bit of a grant to help do some things, and we are essentially trying to get the college coaches to spend the entire week here in York County and use York as the central hub for their recruiting for the week."
YAIAA Girls Basketball: Dallastown's Jay Rexroth resigns after nine seasons as girls basketball coach
The York Mega Practice is a three-day event hosted by Accountability for Life, the nonprofit created and headed by Stoner. Though originally started as a local practice for athletes looking to make a name for themselves on the recruiting trail, the York Mega Practice has evolved into a multi-day event including athletes, coaches and regular high school students.
This year's Mega Practice will from May 8-10, and will include both the traditional Mega Practice, as well as a round of combine testing the following day. For the event, AFL secured the participation of Zybek Sports, the company that provides the timing systems used at the NFL Combine. Zybek will run the testing and timing systems at the Mega Practice's combine.
With Zybek Sports coming in, the combine will also be able to include the company's Standardized Athletic Testing, which runs through traditional recruiting benchmarks such as the 40-yard dash, broad jump and the 5-10-5 agility test. At the end of the combines, athletes will be able to measure their performances against others in Zybek's database to see how well they performed.
'A calling, a passion, a ministry.' What it took for this York football coach to succeed
Though the event is primarily aimed at local players, the practice has also drawn registration from players living in New Jersey, Delaware and other neighboring states. A handful from as far as Florida and Arizona also plan to attend. Those players will have the chance to mingle with both local players and coaches from the 60 colleges that plan on attending.
"We want this to be a great experience here for York," Stoner said. "We do a great job of giving everybody in York County an opportunity to get the exposure, we just want to make sure it gets out to everybody."
Aside from the football combine, the weekend will include a college fair featuring more than 30 colleges hosted at WellSpan Park. The fair is open to any high school student interested and won't be limited to student athletes participating in the practice.
A coaches clinic will also be held on the first day of the event. The clinic will be hosted at the Wyndham Garden hotel and will run from 5-9 p.m. Featured coaches speaking at the event include senior defensive analyst for Penn State Greg Gattuso, as well as the head coaches from Towson, Slippery Rock and East Stroudsburg, among others. York High graduate and former WNBA player Chantel Tremitiere will also make an appearance as a guest speaker.
"We have the ability, because of what we're doing and our connections with people that we deal with, that we're able to get kids in front of lots of different colleges and at every level," Stoner said.
Registration for both the York Mega Practice and the college fair are available on the York Mega Practice website. Tickets options are available for offensive and/or defensive sessions, and all tickets include registration for the combine later in the weekend. Registration for the college fair is free of charge and is also available on the website.
A list of a handful of colleges in attendance is listed below:
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York Mega Practice to connect high school football players, college coaches
Continue reading...
Now, in his third year of running the event, Stoner is excited to see the project grow even larger.
"I decided on a whim to host our own camp so we can bring everybody to us, and we are now on Year 3," Stoner said. "We actually have taken it up a notch. Through the help of Explore York, we got a little bit of a grant to help do some things, and we are essentially trying to get the college coaches to spend the entire week here in York County and use York as the central hub for their recruiting for the week."
YAIAA Girls Basketball: Dallastown's Jay Rexroth resigns after nine seasons as girls basketball coach
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The York Mega Practice is a three-day event hosted by Accountability for Life, the nonprofit created and headed by Stoner. Though originally started as a local practice for athletes looking to make a name for themselves on the recruiting trail, the York Mega Practice has evolved into a multi-day event including athletes, coaches and regular high school students.
This year's Mega Practice will from May 8-10, and will include both the traditional Mega Practice, as well as a round of combine testing the following day. For the event, AFL secured the participation of Zybek Sports, the company that provides the timing systems used at the NFL Combine. Zybek will run the testing and timing systems at the Mega Practice's combine.
With Zybek Sports coming in, the combine will also be able to include the company's Standardized Athletic Testing, which runs through traditional recruiting benchmarks such as the 40-yard dash, broad jump and the 5-10-5 agility test. At the end of the combines, athletes will be able to measure their performances against others in Zybek's database to see how well they performed.
'A calling, a passion, a ministry.' What it took for this York football coach to succeed
You must be registered for see images attach
Though the event is primarily aimed at local players, the practice has also drawn registration from players living in New Jersey, Delaware and other neighboring states. A handful from as far as Florida and Arizona also plan to attend. Those players will have the chance to mingle with both local players and coaches from the 60 colleges that plan on attending.
"We want this to be a great experience here for York," Stoner said. "We do a great job of giving everybody in York County an opportunity to get the exposure, we just want to make sure it gets out to everybody."
Aside from the football combine, the weekend will include a college fair featuring more than 30 colleges hosted at WellSpan Park. The fair is open to any high school student interested and won't be limited to student athletes participating in the practice.
A coaches clinic will also be held on the first day of the event. The clinic will be hosted at the Wyndham Garden hotel and will run from 5-9 p.m. Featured coaches speaking at the event include senior defensive analyst for Penn State Greg Gattuso, as well as the head coaches from Towson, Slippery Rock and East Stroudsburg, among others. York High graduate and former WNBA player Chantel Tremitiere will also make an appearance as a guest speaker.
You must be registered for see images attach
"We have the ability, because of what we're doing and our connections with people that we deal with, that we're able to get kids in front of lots of different colleges and at every level," Stoner said.
Registration for both the York Mega Practice and the college fair are available on the York Mega Practice website. Tickets options are available for offensive and/or defensive sessions, and all tickets include registration for the combine later in the weekend. Registration for the college fair is free of charge and is also available on the website.
A list of a handful of colleges in attendance is listed below:
- Monmouth University
- Stony Brook University
- Lafayette College
- Lehigh University
- Bucknell University
- Colgate University
- Bloomsburg University
- West Chester University
- Norfolk State University
- Westminster College
- Moravian University
- Gettysburg College
- Wilkes University
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: York Mega Practice to connect high school football players, college coaches
Continue reading...
