Schools out for summer, but that doesn't mean student athletes are just sitting back and relaxing by the pool.

The month of June provides coaches with the opportunity to hold organized activities with players that are expected to help the team in the upcoming school year.

The Harlem boys and girls basketball teams have been extremely busy on the hardwood the first week and a half of June as have the Hays/Lodge Pole girls.

This summer, the football programs in Chinook and Hays/Lodge Pole have added camps to their summer routine to help build their programs.

The Sugarbeeter held a camp for youth entering the fourth through eighth grades this fall while the Thunderbirds brought in college athletes from around the state to instruct high school players this past Friday and Saturday.

Chinook Head Football Coach Mike Jones was excited to put this camp on, "We put on the camp to not only raise money for our program but to give back to the community and raise some interest in our program. Our community is extremely supportive of Chinook athletics and Sugarbeeter football so for our boys to be able to take time out of the summer and coach these young area athletes is tremendous."

Jones went on to say, "We had 42 campers out this year from grades 4-8. We had about 12-14 high school players out coaching each of the three days the camp. They were teaching individual drills as well as able to coach some 6 v 6 teams of flag football as well. I think both our boys and the youth learned some good things out of the camp."

The connection between the older and younger kids was something coach Jones liked to see, "It was great to see how well the high school athletes interacted with the young guys. I think it is super important to help out these young guys because every Friday night these elementary kids are looking up to the high schoolers and hoping that one day they get to be playing under the lights on Hoon field on Fridays. With how successful camp was I think we will definitely be holding another camp next summer."

Hays/Lodge Pole Assistant Football Coach Jerry Racine organized this years camp for the Thunderbirds, "We had 45 kids signed up some new ones on Saturday. We had college athletes on hand to work with the kids including Ryan Davis from Montana State University James Gilham MSU-Northern Justin Pfiefer and Derek Loring UM-Western and Brandon Aimsback UM-Western."

The Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds held their first annual football camp June 8-9. The camp attracted more than 40 campers and instructors included players from MSU-Northern, UM Western, MSU-Bozeman and was organized by Thunderbird Assistant Football Coach Jerry Racine.

Racine was very pleased with the camp results. "The camp was a huge success. There were only two kids who have been to a football camp before. Overall the kids learned a lot about their positions. They were excited to learn from college players who are Native American as well. I feel they have a much better understanding of the game and their positions. We just have to keep practicing with their techniques and attend more camps to sharpen their craft, but the energy is high for the upcoming season.