Hundreds of local football players hit the gridiron at Kelowna Senior Secondary School for the Make it Happen Football camp, where a number of professionals have come to Kelowna to turn good football players into great ones.
“We added a youth camp, which had over 90 kids there. That was phenomenal. We had a coaches clinic and moved to the Delta so we got a little more fancy. Then we had around 110 kids show up, almost doubling what we had last year for the Make It Happen Football Camp on Friday and Saturday,” explained Washington State University player and head operator of the Make It Happen Football Camp, Nolan Ulm.
Getting up close and personal with some of the best football players and coaches the world has to offer really helps put things into perspective for these young athletes.
“You get lots of good information on and off the field, we do lots of classroom work and lots of on-field work, obviously, so it improves me as a player in all aspects of my game and gives me lots of confidence. You learn a lot, we had lots of great motivational speakers come here, so it’s great to hear from those guys and see how far they’ve made it,” said Liam Mallow out of Vernon Senior Secondary School.
“The knowledge some of these guys have playing football is incredible and to really get that firsthand experience on what to do. There’s so many coaches around that you’re getting personal training on every single rep and it’s just super helpful to our game.”
While this camp was about getting better at football, it also came with a large component of improving yourself as a person off the field.
“I think it’s really just a change in their life completely. We not only talked about football, but like you said, we talked a lot about life. We had speakers like Dan Martel come out… From all walks of life and just talk about what it takes to succeed and be the best version of yourself and to set a new standard. These guys will come away changed and we know that it’s all about the father, son, brother that they become.”
As the Make It Happen Football closes its chapter in 2024, they hope to be back in 2025 for a bigger and better event.
 "BCCI want Test specialists to play domestic cricket; Rohit, Virat, Bumrah to be exceptions")
