(Gabrielle Ducharme is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Camelback High School for AZPreps365.) 

The Phoenix Union school district was once a watering hole for talented teams. The 1980s saw a league that was on the rise, spewing out athletes who would one day play at the next level. 

But that golden era of athletics soon ended, and the league has been rather quiet since. Until recently, with the resurgence of teams like Camelback football. The program is comprised of young talented student-athletes with the odds stacked against them, but the ability to defeat those odds. 

The team is full of high schoolers who are battle tested, balancing multiple responsibilities off the field, which holds them accountable to be exemplary leaders on the field. 

“I think the kids are resilient. So, I think as long as you are reinforcing the right things, providing when they step off the path,” Athletic Director James Arndt said. “They are able to say that this is what’s important, and if this is what is important, they will get themselves acclimated to what they need to do.” 

Camelback’s entire student body is made up of students from 20 different schools. Most have never played a sport before coming to high school. That is why Arndt wholeheartedly believes Camelback is such a unique space, because it is made up of a “resilient” student body. 

Camelback football sophomore captain Eddy Kentel had no prior experience playing football before he stepped foot on the field in the fall of 2018. Kentel said his father just never allowed him to play the sport, but it always sparked his interest. His story is not unlike other Camelback athletes.

“All of our kids have the same talent that anyone else in the state has, but due to financial constraints, they are not having the same opportunities,” Arndt said. “What’s beautiful about high school is that we can provide all of that equipment and all of that organization.” 

Kentel had a steep learning curve when he first started playing football. But the sport has given him a boost in confidence on and off the field. Before he came to Camelback, Kentel attended Heritage Academy, a charter school in Tempe. He struggled in english and history, and eventually repeated ninth grade at Camelback for the 2018-19 school year. 

Since then, Kentel has matured immensely. He is inspired by his father, Gregory Kentel, who is an army veteran and a teacher at Camelback. Eddy’s father can be found on the sidelines of every football game because, as Kentel describes, “He doesn’t have to drive that far.” 

Kentel won Defensive Player of the Year for Camelback, all-conference defensive end and was selected to the All-Phoenix Union defensive end team. He burst onto the scene, but his early success came as no surprise to head coach Brandon McNutt. It was a byproduct of a student-athlete who trained hard on his own time, and still struggled to comprehend his success. 

“He didn’t even really understand. I had to explain that this gives him a chance to be all-state,” McNutt said. “With those awards being won, and that’s only as a sophomore.” 

Camelback athletics may not have the reputation of cranking out Division I athletes. But they are experiencing a cultural shift based on character in the classroom, rather than wins in losses during the season. 

“I think when kids are doing well in their classes, they are being respectful on campus, and if we have high levels of participation, that will lead to a successful program,” Arndt said. “That will lead to wins and losses and you can’t always control what happens out on the field, but you can control what happens in the classroom.” 

Camelback swimming is following suit with football. The swim team is comprised of only 20 swimmers, the biggest it has been in years. The team only practices twice a week for one hour at Brophy Preparatory School in Phoenix because Camelback does not have a pool on campus. None of the schools in the Phoenix Union District have one. 

With no pool on campus, few swimmers to train, and limited practice time each week, the school could choose to not even bother with a team. But that is not Camelback Athletics. 

“Their competitions are 30 seconds - 4 minutes long, and nobody really watches. The kids have enormous pride in themselves,” Arndt said. “I think they have this tenacity and grit that I don’t think many kids have which I think is really cool.”

From the pool to the field, McNutt and football assistant coach Jeremy Lord recognize that no matter the sport, the coaches have to be flexible. Many older athletes on the football team will miss practice to help babysit siblings or go to work to help provide for their families. 

When priorities shift, the football team already knows how to respond. McNutt has one rule for players who are either late to practice or have to miss.

Two hundred yard bear crawls up and down the football field. 

McNutt and Lord set it as a rule at the start of the season and the team’s leaders have enforced it. No games missed, no explanations needed.

“When they miss a practice, we don’t even have to say anything. The leaders on the team say, ‘Okay, you’ve got bear crawls.’ The kids don’t argue, because they know,” Lord said. “Some of them do work, but that’s probably the big one, their parents throw a lot of things on them and it is just what they have to do.”

Lord joined the coaching staff this season, and before that, coached at Boulder Creek High School in Anthem. He said the students at Boulder Creek can choose to have jobs, but the students at Camelback may have to have one to help support their families. 

“When I was at Boulder Creek, kids never missed practice unless they were taking a test, it was just ingrained in them,” Lord said. “These guys, it is almost backwards, okay I gotta take care of my family, and then it’s school and then football. We gotta kind of turn that around, but it is hard to change a culture.” 

Cultural shifts occur over years of rebuild, but student-athletes like Kentel are byproducts of a system headed in the right direction. In the future, Arndt wants student-athletes to embody the school’s tagline, “We Are The Shield.” 

The tagline embraces the idea of inclusion and inter student-athlete collaboration. They play multiple sports in different seasons. 

“I would just love to see them being the model students on campus,” Arndt said. “People are attracted to good climate, so when you get more competitive, it creates a positive cycle.”