Many kids celebrate birthdays with games, presents and cake, but Tara Abolfathi spent her ninth birthday in a much different environment - learning soccer skills at the Vancouver Whitecaps Summer Camp program Saturday and Sunday (Aug. 21 and 22).
"It's been really good so far," she said during a lunch break at the Brennan Park field Saturday. "The teachers are really good and we've learned a lot already."
An added bonus for the local elementary school student was the fact that two of her close friends, Kate Fleck and Miranda Kelly, also attended the camp and all three were placed in the same group.
"We didn't really know we were all going to be here," said Kate. "It was a nice surprise for all of us to be playing together and makes the camp a lot more fun."
The girls were among 90 kids who registered for the camp, where the kids were separated into six groups, based on age and were taught a variety of new skills to use on the pitch.
"The thing I like about this camp so far is that we get to practice all sorts of new things we've never done before," said Miranda. "I've never really learned how to juggle the ball before but I can now thanks to this camp."
"I've learned how to dribble a lot better," agreed Kate.
Six different stations were set up around Brennan Park over the two-day camp, with a coach at each station teaching the kids new drills. Players learned about teamwork, passing in gaps, ball juggling, shooting, footwork, dribbling and speed drills.
During the first session, more basic drills and skills are taught, with the drills becoming progressively more technical as the camp goes on.
The camp concludes with a "World Cup" where each group is split into two squads and play a scrimmage.
It was the first time the Whitecaps have come to 麻豆社国产for a camp but camp manager Sam Lenarduzzi said that he plans on continuing the Whitecaps partnership with the 麻豆社国产Youth Soccer Association.
"I think it's been a great camp," he said. "We're thrilled with the turnout and I think there is a lot of potential in this area for soccer growth."
Lenarduzzi also said that the format of next year's camp might change as the two groups were discussing the possibility of running the camp during the week as opposed to on a weekend like this year.
Dale Venekamp of the SYSA agrees.
"We definitely plan on making this a yearly thing," he said, adding the field availability is the only issue facing the camp's future.
"The kids seem to be learning a lot this weekend. I heard a few of them talking about how much harder Sunday was than Saturday, which is a good thing for them and a good thing for soccer out here."
