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closeBritish soccer camp comes to the Key
Youths learn, have fun with world’s most popular sport
Marques Hunter
of the Gateway
A small group of youths received a European lesson on how to play soccer on the Key Peninsula.
Challenger Sports, one of the leading soccer camps in the United States, Canada and Australia, visited Volunteer Park last week to provide lessons on the most popular game in the world.
The European instructors included Scottish ball player Gary Wright, who was the camp coordinator.
The camp, which provides instruction to thousands of clubs nationwide, spent a week working with about 10 kids.
Key Peninsula Middle School student Jessalyn Wood said she enjoyed the small group because she got a little more instruction from Wright.
“I thought it was fun,” Wood said. “It was a good experience.”
Caitlyn Parks, 12, said the camp was more about having fun than being serious.
“It was cool,” Parks said. “I had never been coached by a (Scot).”
It was some of the kids’ first experience with soccer. Wright said the goal was to get the kids interested in the sport and to have fun.
“If they enjoy it the first time, hopefully they want to keep it going,” Wright said. “We try and teach techniques, but in a fun way.”
One of the drills was to see how many times the kids could bounce the ball on their knee, foot or head without letting it touch the ground.
Parks won each time with a high of four touches.
Wright, who played for the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, said he’d like to make the camp bigger next year. He had just finished conducting a camp in Port Orchard, where he said there were about 100 kids.
Toward the end of the camp on Friday, the group split into teams for a friendly scrimmage. One team chose to be Scotland and the other Mexico.
Wright said it was a good week for the first-time event, getting the younger kids out there and learning at the same time.
“It has the potential to be bigger,” Wright said. “Hopefully they enjoyed it, and they’ll tell their friends, so we can bring out two coaches next time.”
About 800 certified British soccer coaches are picked by Challenger’s UK-based staff. The camp was formed in 1985 and is a division of All American Indoor Sports, Inc.
The camp expanded throughout the United States, and in 1997, the company acquired the operations of British Soccer and prepared to work with youths nationwide.
While most soccer camps have more of an American feel, Challenger has an international flavor, mixing in their teachings.