In just its second year of existence, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) football camp has already grown in size by so much that it has expanded to two separate camps at the University of West Georgia.

The first camp opened Thursday and runs through Saturday morning, while the second three-day camp gets underway Monday. After hosting 16 teams last year, the two camps combined this year will have 40 teams with 2,200 coaches and high school athletes from across Georgia.

“We’re fortunate that the teams are coming here. They see the need to participate in something of this value,” West Metro Atlanta FCA director Tim Eason said. “Our focus is great competition and making men better men. We do that through the players’ teamwork, a little camaraderie and developing teamwork from within from a spiritual perspective.”

Among the schools at the camp this week is Carrollton High School. The Trojans didn’t attend the camp last year, but football coach Rayvan Teague visited it. Eason said that after Teague saw the camp, he told him that he wouldn’t miss it again.

“He told me later, competition is great, but what this camp builds as far as self-esteem and purpose as a team is far beyond what any other camp could give him,” said Eason, who added that the camp has grown largely due to word-of-mouth endorsements from coaches.

While the camp helps players develop on the field and features 7-on-7 games, an offensive line camp and defensive line camp, a large emphasis is placed on the spiritual aspect of the camp.

“We believe that faith has a big part to do with what a great team is,” Eason said. “You’ve got faith in your coaches that they’re calling the right play, you’ve got the faith in the coaches that they’re teaching the right technique and, of course, a faith in a higher being, which in our case is God. We believe that all of that combined together can make a greater impact on the kids.”

After playing football during the day, the players head to the Tabernacle Baptist Church for an evening assembly, which is followed by “huddle time,” during which Eason said players are able to open up and develop relationships beyond the field with their teammates and coaches.

“A lot of these kids are going through a lot of things that they don’t open up to their coaches, so this is an opportunity for them to understand and get a better relationship with the kids,” Eason said.

This is the third 7-on-7 football camp Carrollton has attended this summer, and while it isn’t as competitive on the field as the other two, Teague said the team bonding and fellowship make it worthwhile.

“There’s definitely something to fellowship and going away and doing away with the distractions,” Teague said.

Eason said the layout of West Georgia’s campus, with it being compact and all the fields on the peripheral, make it an ideal location for the camp.

“If you look at all the fields in the Atlanta area and even south Georgia, this campus is laid out perfectly for this kind of camp,” Eason said.

The FCA had a girl’s basketball and softball camp in June and Eason, who became an FCA regional director in January, is hopeful of expanding next summer by offering lacrosse, soccer and a third football camp.

Outside of Carrollton, Cartersville is also attending the camp out of Region 6-AAA.

Carrollton has 26 players and nine coaches at the camp. Dalton High School brought the most players, 102, to go along with 12 coaches, while Colquitt County High School (98 players, 12 coaches) and South Effingham (96 players, 10 coaches) also brought good numbers.

“What we’re doing is building that intangible. Something that you can’t teach, but you can grow it together. So the faith we work through with the coaches, with God and everything, it’s making a difference,” Eason said. “We see it on our collegiate fields, now we’re seeing it in high school.”