Solebury resident Jack McKenna spent the first week of July in Austin, Texas with about 130 other elite youth football players as a member of the USA Football National U-15 team.
McKenna, 13, attends Germantown Academy in Ft. Washington, Penn., and will enter eighth grade in September. He was captain of the Germantown Academy Middle School Varsity team in 2011, starting at both middle linebacker and fullback.
McKenna was named to the national team after excelling at a regional tryout in early June. USA Football held six regional trials around the country to select about 130 players for the U15 team. The trials were two days of competition, including individual drills, 1-on-1 situations and 7-on-7 competitions.
Members of the U15 National Team arrived in Austin on June 29 to stay at the University of Texas for a week of training and games. Players first participated in an additional set of tryouts at the National Team camp and divided into three teams.
The “Red” and “White” teams were comprised of older, more experienced and talented players while the “Blue” team included younger, developing players. Despite being one of the younger participants in camp, Jack was selected for the “Red” team to play outside linebacker.
Players had two 2 1/2-hour training sessions daily, along with afternoon classroom/film sessions. The teams competed in a scrimmage “jamboree” one morning, playing 30 minute games against one another and ended the week with a “Red” v “White” and “Blue” v “Sweden” competition.
For more information about the U-15 International Development week, please visit: Click here
