ELGIN — Elgin had a lot to offer over the weekend with Cheese Days bringing plenty of visitors to the small southeastern Minnesota town.
There were food stands, live music, a car show, a slowpitch softball tournament and even a youth track meet to highlight some of the activities.
And for the first time, there was also a youth football camp for players in grades 4-9 as well as a 7-on-7 passing drill for area high school teams.
The event was put on by the Walch brothers, Travis and Carson, who both grew up in Elgin and played football there before going on to play at Winona State and then into coaching. Carson is still a coach — and at the highest level — as a wide receivers coach with the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL.
"It feels great," Carson Walch said of the event. "My brother did all of the work. I tried to help him out with some things along the way, but he did a great job of putting it together."
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That included bringing in a number of high-level football coaches and current or former players to help with the youth clinic and then speak to the campers and high school players on hand. That list included Winona State football coach Tom Sawyer; former WSU standout Zach Olstad, who had a tryout with the Buffalo Bills; former University of Minnesota player Andrew Stelter of Owatonna; and current Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Brandon Zylstra.
"The No. 1 compliment I got from parents today was ‘Your staff was really good. Your staff was demanding, but not demeaning.’ It’s just so good working with young kids," Travis Walch said. "We were very intentional with who we asked. I asked people who I’ve had long relationships with because this is our image now."
The Walch brothers deemed the event a success. There were 156 players who attended the youth clinic and 13 area high schools took part in the 7-on-7 passing drill tournament.
"No. 1 was just putting it on the map and letting people know we were going to do it," Travis Walch said. "Now our goal is to do it every year on the same weekend. It’s also easy to remember (Elgin) Cheese Days. It’s always easy to remember Father’s Day, it’s the Saturday of it."
"We’re just here to give back to the community, but at the same time try to showcase the talent of Southeastern Minnesota football," Carson Walch said.
After the youth camp and prior to the 7-on-7 tournament, players filled the gym at the school in Elgin to hear encouraging words from those helping with the event, including video messages from Rushford-Peterson graduate and current Arizona Cardinals assistant coach Steve Heiden and current NFL wide receiver Ashlon Jeffrey.
A common theme was work hard on and off the field, be a good teammate and have fun.
"The common theme is you have to sacrifice, you have to work harder and be a little bit different than all of your buddies," Carson Walch said. "It takes time and it takes work if you really want to be a great high school player, if you really want to be a great college player. You have to be willing to give up a lot of activities to get to that point."
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Michael Coble, a 2018 Byron High grad, was also on hand. He was slated to play football at Minnesota State, Mankato, but he missed his freshman season as he battled Guillian-Barre Syndrome. He was even paralyzed for two months before recovering.
"Every day in your life your going to be faced with adversity," said Coble, who has been cleared to play at MSU this year. "As long as you keep your head up and stay strong, it’s going to get better eventually."
"When you can have Brandon and Carson and Tom Sawyer and Andrew Stelter, a Michael Coble who went through what he went through. ‘I’m playing football after be parallelized for two months of my life’ less than a year ago, those are the lessons and stories I want to teach these kids when things aren’t going the way they want them to," Travis Walch said.
And many of the successful people giving the messages on Saturday hail from small Minnesota towns. Carson Walch noted that if talent is out there, it will be found.
"Nowadays it’s even better because the recruiting world has really networked into all of the small towns," he said. "When we were young, sometimes it was easy to miss guys from small towns. But now they do a really good job at the collegiate level of finding guys whether there in a small town or a big town. If they showcase their talents at the high-school level, they’ll be found."
