British Soccer Camp held in Pincher Creek

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Some of the British soccer camp participants with coaches
Michael McRobert (left) and Ryan Stewart
C. Davis photo

The field behind the Pincher Creek pool was the site of the 2012 Challenger Sports British Soccer Camp, held last week.

Young athlete Sasha practicing
her skills after British Soccer Camp
C. Davis photo

Michael McRobert from Scotland and Ryan Stewart from England put local athletes from the age of 3 to 16 through their paces, giving them a fresh perspective on the game.

This is the second year of coaching internationally for McRobert, and his enthusiasm was very evident.

"We've got half day, 9 am to 12 pm, we half day 1 pm to 4 pm, and a full day that's 9 am to 4 pm," he said, explaining how the camp functions over the course of an immersive week.

"We'll start off in the morning here, and define skills which just get them to have skills with the ball, get them used to having control of the ball, and used  to having it at their feet."

"Throughout the week we do different things," McRobert continued, "like we would have them passing to start, and we'll work on dribbling a specific day, and we'll work on shooting a specific day, and tackling and defending one day, and on the last day we normally do a big refresh, so the kids know exactly what they've learned."

Some of Pincher Creek's best up and coming soccer talent
revisiting the drills they practiced during a week of British Soccer Camp
C. Davis photo

The coaches do camps for 6 weeks in total.  "We get a new camp each week," McRobert said.  "We don't usually know what camp we're getting until Thursday.  So both of us are going to High River (next).  We haven't always been in the same camp.  My first week, I went to Kindersley  and the second week I was in Vermillion, and this is my third week."

Michael McRobert
C. Davis photo

McRobert said his co-coach Ryan Stewart "has been here longer than me.  He was in St. Paul's one week.  We are coaching kids the basic skills, to help their entire game.  We also do fun theme days."

According to McRobert, "One of the big things in challenger camps, we put them into different teams, them we get them to wear the team colors."  He explained that the kids would get to choose different nations, and have to research that nation's colours.  Then kids that did that research and wore t-shirts of the appropriate colour would win points for their team.

"They don't just get points for winning," McRobert continued.  "They get points for drawing a game, and they get points for losing.  It's all about taking part.  They get points for learning a skill well."

"It's all about getting the kids reacting positively to doing things well, so that they can improve on themselves."

He's a true believer when it comes to soccer. A chance to see parts of the world also drew him to the program.   "At home I do a lot of sports coaching," he said, "and I do coach soccer back home and I wanted to travel.  I get to see different parts of the country.  We stay with host families, and they do stuff with us.  Things you wouldn't know to do if you stayed in a hotel, or a motel."

"I was in America two years ago, and New England so I enjoyed that, so I thought, 'I've never been to Canada.  I'll see the country, it's a massive country."

He explained that soccer is the sport where he comes from.  He said that was part of the appeal to the young athletes in his charge.  "I think it's different learning from someone who played it from when they're young.  You eat and sleep soccer.  And you're learning from someone from a different country."

Related link: www.challengersports.com