Too many years ago than I care to count, my daughter decided she wanted to have a slumber party for her birthday.

After decorating my house in a plethora of pink, a half dozen or so little princess wanna-bes invaded my castle, ate everything in sight and ran around for hours while screaming.

By the time they all went home to their own parents on Sunday, my husband and I, and even the dogs, were asking ourselves, “What in the heck were you thinking?”

Last week I was wondering what in the heck West St. John High School football coach Brandon Walters was thinking.

Walters, the third year coach of the Rams, just had his own version of a slumber party, but with 35 or so teenage boys and a bunch of coaches in the West St. John gymnasium for three days.

They call it “football camp.”

“It was a cool experience,” Walters said. “It’s definitely something they will remember. We got a lot of work in. There was a whole lot of football.”

Lots of coaches believe in the football camp experience and most of them take this, the first week of practice allowed (without pads) by the LHSAA, to do it.

St. Charles Catholic coach Frank Monica has been loading his teams on a bus and taking them to some secluded hideaway, well, forever.

“It’s total concentration on one thing — to get them ready for the season,” Monica said Monday morning before going incommunicado for the week at a retreat in Mississippi. “It’s all football with no distractions. When they come back, they’re ready.”

East St. John coach Aldon Foster is having a mini-camp much like Walters’ this week, with the players moving into the school until tomorrow morning.

While not all coaches have the means or see the benefits, Walters said it’s a great bonding experience.

“It kind of built a camaraderie among the guys,” he said.

From last Thursday to Saturday the Rams players and coaches camped out on cots (courtesy of the National Guard) and air mattresses in the gym, ate meals cooked by the coaches — and one by Walters’ wife — had meetings and went through team-building activities.

“We found out our coaches can cook, so that was good,” Walters said.

There also was round-the-clock football sessions and practices at all hours.

The Rams probably dreamed about football when they slept.

They certainly had the same nightmare — a 5 a.m. wakeup from a couple of trainers from the Army National Guard, who put the team through a brutal workout Friday morning.

“I think the kids will attest, that’s the most grueling part of camp, but it’s now become a tradition,” Walters said. “They don’t play with them. We get up with the birds and by the time 6 or 7 o’clock runs around, we’ve had a full practice. They kept them busy the whole time. Basically, it’s a test of mental toughness. We know it’s tough, but when you see all the guys together doing it and everybody’s suffering, it’s definitely an experience for them.”

Walters said he started the gym camp last year after coming to the conclusion that “away” camps were just too expensive.

“It could be thousands of dollars just to go to these places that were not necessarily the most accommodating,” he said. “So instead of going off to Mississippi or some place, we might as well do it here. We have everything we need, facilities, showers and all that stuff.”

But when it was over, Walters went in search of a little solitude.

“I had to take a nice little ride on the lake,” he said.

“I like to fish and I had to go out to the water and saw some people had some poles. I was trying to get away where there was nothing but water and birds.”

Lori Lyons is sports editor at L’OBSERVATEUR. She can be reached at 985-652-9545 or lori.lyons@lobservateur.com.