James attended our Appleton Kicking Camp this past June and has made tremendous improvement going into this Fall season!
7th Grader already seeing results of his hard work
James Maertz is only 12 years old and is a multi-position athlete on his Appleton Rebels 7th grade football team. He’s currently the starting Kicker, Defensive End and on the Kick Return team. For a quiet guy, he’s been starting to make a bit of noise in the Fox Valley!
After just five games, he’s already scored 28 points kicking and is averaging a little over 35 yards on his kick-offs. He’s even made a few tackles along the way, and a successful onsides kick, too!
His coach, Brycen Ward must be pretty pleased with James and his team’s 5-0 record, so far.
“When I met James,” said Coach Farley, “I thought he was older than 12 because he’s so tall, but he jumped right into our drills. Sometimes, the younger guys can be intimidated at camp by high schoolers who are more advanced, but we teach everyone to work on what they can begin to master. I’m so pleased that James really got after it.”
In 7th grade tackle football, sometimes just getting the ball to the tee with enough time to kick is a major accomplishment. When James has had that chance, he’s made all of his PATs.
He’s only began kicking halfway through last season and came to camp this summer to work on his form. He was taking too many steps to kick PATs and his form was making him rather inconsistent — but his hard work after camp has obviously paid off.
We can’t wait to see James next summer, and for his high school career to begin in 2025!
This is James opening kick off that sails over their opponents return man, and a successful PAT conversion. Whatever you do, have a “growth mindset” and just keep improving.
Take a close look at James steps in this successful extra point vs. his steps in his evaluation video.
WAY TO GO, JAMES! 🙂
Want to see your name in headlines? Send us a small write up with photos or a link to a video (or your Hudl film) so that we can share it with your fellow campers. Submit to: mike@kickerscamp.com