Summer football camps are important for teaching fundamental skills, practicing plays and preparing players for the upcoming season. They also serve another important purpose, however, and that’s to help players bond as teammates.

That’s part of the reason why the Carrollton High School football team will stay overnight at the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) football camp later this week, even though the camp is being held just a few miles from the high school at the University of West Georgia.

“It’s a chance for you to carry a little group of them off and spend the night, let them bond a little bit,” Carrollton football coach Rayvan Teague said. “Kids mixing and maybe rooming together that normally don’t do that, I think that’s a big part of team building and something that we really like to do.”

The FCA camp, which runs Thursday through Saturday, will have an offensive line camp, defensive line camp, as well as 7-on-7 games. The Trojans will send five of their top offensive lineman, six of their top defensive lineman, their top perimeter players in addition to several seniors.

Teague said he no longer takes the entire team to football camps because the start of school and football practice overlap too much. For that reason, he said it’s important that the team’s leaders go to camps to bond and develop in that aspect.

“We look forward to the spiritual aspect and fellowship that comes with that,” Teague said. “The FCA does a good job sponsoring that.”

This will be the third camp that Carrollton players have traveled to this summer. In June, they took part in the Atlanta Falcons’ NFL High School Player Development program, which featured 36 teams from across Georgia competing in a 7-on-7 passing tournament.

About 21 players from the team returned Tuesday from a 7-on-7 tournament at Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Ala. Carrollton finished 11-2-1, losing in overtime in the semifinals and then winning the consolation game.

Although the Trojans didn’t win the tournament as they had the previous two times they competed at it, Teague said it was a good experience.

“It really helps us defensively and offensively. It helps us perfect what passing that we do,” Teague said. “We get a lot of confidence in. I think I took 21 players and all of them played a lot.”

The Trojans have also scheduled three 7-on-7 tournaments at Grisham Stadium. Two have already taken place, with the third scheduled for Tuesday when LaGrange and East Coweta will be among the three teams to participate, along with Carrollton.

“It’s a whole lot better than trying to practice against yourself because you rise up to the level of the competition,” Teague said.

Carrollton will be one of numerous teams competing at the 1,200-person FCA camp.

By the end of the summer, Teague said Carrollton will have played in about 48 different 7-on-7 games, which are 30-minute long, pass-only touch football games played on a 40-yard field.

“We’ve had a good summer throwing. I’m real pleased with the progress of our quarterbacks and receivers and our defensive secondary,” Teague said. “I think we’ve gotten a lot better and have developed some depth. So it’s good for us.”