community
july24
Challenger Soccer Camp Returns to Vernonia
By Scott Laird
Those coaches with the
interesting British accents and unusual
terminology were back for a second
year of Challenger Sports British Soccer
Camp in Vernonia.
Twenty-five young soccer
players were one hand for daily sessions
during the week of July 16-20, joining
camp instructors Charlotte Sant and
Curtis Grant on the pitch to learn some
soccer skills, get some exercise and
have some fun.
Challenger Soccer
Camps are the most popular
soccer camp in the country.
Over a thousand Challenger
coaches each year have
helped the company develop
one of the most innovative
approaches to coaching
youth soccer in the US.
Sant and Grant are
spending the week living with
the Lemay family while they
work with Vernonia youngsters. Grant
is 19 and comes from Cardiff, Wales.
This is his first year as an instructor with
Challenger. Grant says his favorite
soccer club is Liverpool and he plays
for his University of Wales Institute
Cardiff team. Sant is 21 and is from
Warrenton, England, about 20 minutes
from Manchester. This is Sant’s second
year working for Challenger. She says
her favorite soccer club is Manchester
United. She says she doesn’t play
anymore but likes coaching and is also a
physical education instructor. Both Sant
and Grant have been in the United States
now for five weeks working in camps
in California and Oregon and spent the
week of July 4 th at Lake Tahoe.
“We just stay with a different
host family every week and so you get to
see loads of places in America that you
probably wouldn’t get to see as a tourist,”
says Sant. “That is a really great part of
the experience. You get to meet loads of
people through the host family and it’s
really nice to get to meet the locals and
see how they live and what they like to
do. That’s always good fun.”
Sant says Challenger Sports
Camps don’t just teach athletic
skills. “Yes, we teach soccer, but we
also promote what we call the ‘Five
Champions of Character’ as well,”
Sant explains. “The five characteristics
Photo courtesy of Mark Lemay.
we teach are respect, responsibility,
sportsmanship, leadership and integrity.
We encourage the kids by asking them
to think about the definitions of these
things at home. Then during camp we
discuss them and ask them how they
might show respect on the pitch when
playing soccer and they have to come up
with examples. And then we highlight
when the kids actually do some of
those things during competition. So we
promote that all through
our camps. It’s not just
about the soccer and the
skills, it’s about the whole
player. And that’s really
important to Challenger
Sports and important that
the kids learn it during
our camp.”
Observing a day
at a Challenger Soccer
Camp is an education
for anyone who visits.
I couldn’t figure out
what the instructors
were getting on about at
first, as I tried to adjust
to the thick accents and
unusual jargon.
On
the second day their
campers didn’t seem to
have any trouble figuring
it out and were quick to
have a go at the drills they were asked to
perform. And like the campers, I quickly
picked up where I left off after last years
2012
9
camp. A season of
Downton Abbey
and re-watching a
couple Guy Ritchie
films
recently
also helped my
comprehension
level.
The camp
is a mix of games, drills disguised as
games, scrimmages and lots of fun
and laughs. Coaches Sant and Grant
do a fantastic job of encouraging and
involving all the players and keeping the
activity and learning level high. The
youngest campers play games like “Mr.
Wolf “ as they learn to dribble the ball
while the older kids spend time in the
“stinky box” when they are eliminated
from a heading competition. On the
final day of camp there is a graduation
ceremony and the older players hold a
“World Cup” tournament, complete with
flags from the countries they represent.
The Challenger Soccer Camp
is a great way for young children
in Vernonia to learn about and try
playing the game of soccer. It provides
entertaining exercise and exposes the
campers and their families to a different
culture.
Mariolino’s
Pizza & Grill
Serving breakfast,
lunch, dinner
& ice cream
Family owned and operated for over 40 years.
721 Madison Avenue, Vernonia
Offers Good Through July 31, 2012
(503) 429-5018