The Agony and Ecstasy of Camp Dawson

By Jim Kalin, Reprinted with permission from the Larchmont Chronicle

THE AUGUST AFTERNOON I visited Camp Dawson on the Loyola High School campus, the temperature in nearby downtown Los Angeles was 90F. It was hotter than that on the artificial turf gridiron where the Loyola Cubs’ varsity football team was churning through their second workout of the day, in full pads and helmets.

Atten-hut!

Across America, high school football teams began their preseason with Two-A-Days. These intense practices, held twice a day, occur toward the summer’s end and are often referred to as Boot Camp or Hell Week (it actually lasts two weeks.) At Loyola, they use the term Camp Dawson, which sounds… kinder. The name is in homage to beloved former Loyola athletic director and football defensive coordinator Jon Dawson who passed away in 2009. Camp Dawson has become a tradition at Loyola for any student who wants to play on the Cubs’ football team. The preseason workouts clear the summer cobwebs and get the boys back on track with the necessary cardio and physical strength required to endure a varsity football schedule of ten games, and then hopefully, a post-season as well. Last year, Loyola plowed two games deep into the post-season before losing a 28-21 heartbreaker to Etiwanda in the CIF (California Interscholastic Federation) quarterfinals. Camp Dawson’s other purpose, and one just as important, is to instill camaraderie amongst the players.

“Camp Dawson allows us to really focus on football without distractions,” said head coach Drew Casani. “And, just as importantly, it gives us an opportunity to spend time talking about teamwork, leadership, and being accountable to ourselves and each other.”

The ecstasy

The players were required to spend the last three nights of Camp Dawson in Loyola’s Caruso Hall, which is more spacious than most high school gymnasiums or auditoriums. From top left going clockwise: Matthew Pohl, Luke Harrison-Garcia, Jack Susnjar, “It gave us four entire William ’Beau’ Ferguson, Carson Real, and Ryan Turk on the infamous couch days together as a team,” acquired on Facebook Marketplace. explained Coach Casani. Air mattresses were brought in for the team to sleep on, and at night, the atmosphere resembled a big slumber party. Two players took it one step further, and to duplicate the comforts of home, Jack Parris and Ryan Turk found a used sofa on Facebook Marketplace and had it delivered to Caruso Hall. Meals were another highlight—after all, these are growing teenagers! The boys ate on campus. Some meals were provided by Z-licious, but the moms and dads took on the bulk of food prep. “We completed Camp Dawson with over 60 dads and guardians attending our father-son barbecue,” said Karolina Susnjar, whose son Jack is a co-captain along with Xavier Rice and Zach Bowles. “Eight of the dads took over the kitchen and hosted a tri-tip barbecue lunch. They prepared, cooked, and afterwards, cleaned up. They served 160 meals, and it was a huge success.”

The agony

Camaraderie is often built through intensity and physical exertion, and at Camp Dawson, it’s no different. Of course, practicing twice a day is a great start for bonding amongst the players, especially when it’s done during the summer’s hottest month. “There are temperature regulations, but it’s not the actual temperature,” explained Loyola Senior Director of Communications Maite Saralegui Berry. “They use something called the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT). Our trainers monitor the WBGT before and during practice to make sure it’s safe for them. We had no days where we were restricted.”

Plastic inflatable recovery tubs were also present on the track surrounding the football field. These were filled with cool water in case anyone overheated. After practice, ice was poured into the water so players could submerge up to their waists for several minutes to sooth swelling and soreness in their joints and muscles.