Vikings to host free youth football camp at Bemidji State

The Minnesota Vikings will bring a free youth football camp to Chet Anderson Stadium at Bemidji State University on Thursday, June 11, giving boys and girls ages 6 to 14 a chance to spend part of the day on one of the region’s most distinctive college football fields.

The Vikings Youth Football Camp will run from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with check-in opening at 9 a.m. The one-day clinic is non-contact and is designed to teach football fundamentals in a setting that is open to families across the area. The camp is presented by Hy-Vee.

For Beltrami County families, the draw is straightforward: the camp is free, it is local, and it puts an NFL-affiliated program within reach without the cost that usually comes with specialty youth sports events. In a summer calendar crowded with travel ball, day camps and family activities, the Vikings event offers a rare opportunity for children in northern Minnesota to work on football skills at no charge.

Bemidji State already fills its summer schedule with youth and athletic camps, but the Vikings’ visit adds a professional-sports name to that lineup. That matters in a city where college and community athletics often overlap, and where Chet Anderson Stadium sits close to Lake Bemidji on the university campus.

The stadium has been home to Bemidji State football since 1939 and is listed with a capacity of about 5,000. Field turf was added in 2013, when the venue also became home to BSU women’s soccer. For a youth camp, that setting gives local kids a chance to run drills in a place that is deeply tied to Bemidji athletics history.

The Vikings say their free youth football camps are part of a regional series aimed at expanding access to the sport while teaching the basics. In Bemidji, the combination of no cost, a central campus location and a one-day format could make the camp especially appealing for families looking for a simple summer outing that also gives kids something to take home from the field.