EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article has been clarified to eliminate any confusion.

NATCHEZ — Clay Arnold couldn’t sleep much Sunday night, and he may be going through that again in a month.

Arnold was excited to get out and teach local youth about football fundamentals at his youth football camp, which was scheduled to start Monday morning and last all week at Adams County Christian School. But when only a few children showed up, plans for the camp were postponed.

Arnold said he decided to move the camp to the week of Aug. 20-24, a few weeks before local youth begin competing in AYA football. Though Arnold said he’s targeting AYA players, as well as players from other local youth leagues, Arnold’s camp is not affiliated with AYA or any other local youth football league. Schools will be given registration forms to pass out to students in order to help generate more interest.

“I’m a little disappointed right now,” Arnold admitted. “I couldn’t sleep all night, because I was anxious to get out here and do some teaching. I’m a little down, but I don’t stay down very long.”

Arnold said he would definitely get the camp going, even if he had to delay the start by several weeks.

“There was some miscommunication between people, places and things,” Arnold said. “We had several kids show up, but we told them to wait until the second week of school.”

Since many local youth are either busy with other sporting activities or are on vacation, Arnold said it wasn’t easy getting in touch with people who might be interested in his camp.

“We didn’t really have a place for someone to sign up, so Sports Center was that place, but Sports Center isn’t responsible for signing up AYA kids,” Arnold said. “It’s better to get them while they’re in school.”

With the schools now in charge of handing forms out, Arnold said there should be a better system of getting information out to prospective athletes.

Registration is $40 for one athlete, $30 each for two athletes and $25 for three athletes. Arnold said the focus of the camp is to help youth learn to play the game correctly so they won’t hurt themselves.

“We’re going to be teaching kids the basic fundamentals,” Arnold said. “We want to know, does a fifth-grade lineman know about which foot to step with and why, or does he just run up and push someone?”

While Arnold said he realizes some other youth leagues might be hosting practices at the same time he’s having his camp, Arnold claims he’s more qualified to teach the game than their coaches.

“They’d be practicing with people not certified to teach,” Arnold said. “I’m not saying they’re bad; they may be doing a great job, but they’ll be leaving it up to someone else to teach them what I’ll be teaching them in depth.”

With a degree in physical education from Mississippi State with a minor in exercise physiology, Arnold said his knowledge of the human body gives him an edge in coaching.

“I know how the body works, why it works and how you teach someone (football),” Arnold said.

And Arnold said he doesn’t care if it’s a public school or private school athlete, all are welcome to participate in his camp.

“Any kid can come, black, white, blue or green,” he said.

And while he wouldn’t do this for all families, Arnold said he’d be more lenient to players from lower-income families who may not be able to afford the camp fees.

“If a kid says he’s only got $5, I’d say, ‘Come on,’” Arnold said. “If you have the drive, we’ll fit you in.”

Arnold said he wanted to thank ACCS and its headmaster, David King, since the school was going to allow Arnold to use their football field for his camp. Arnold said he’s hopeful he can host his camp at ACCS in August, even if it means practicing in a different area than the Rebels football team. For more information on the camp, Arnold can be reached at 601-870-4601.