By Riley McNew
From July 16 to 20, Monday through Friday, at J. Neils Park, kids from Libby and Troy went to British Soccer Camp.
The camp’s coaches were named Will and Eoin. They came to Libby from other countries to teach kids about soccer.
Some people that were at the soccer camp hosted the coaches by letting them stay at their houses.
Some of the kids took half day lessons and some took full day lessons. I did full day lessons and learned that sunscreen is really important. They gave us free water though.
A quote from coach Will is, “I am a fully qualified sports coach. I am travelling America to coach soccer for two months. I am six weeks in.” Coach Will is from England.
Coach Eoin is from Ireland. He is 21 years old and his dad is a farmer so, “coming to America to coach was the most feasible way to get to explore America,” he told me.
He also said that it’s always about my next ball, not my last. This means to keep on going, try to do better and not worry too much about what has already happened.
Overall, the camp was a success because we learned many tricks and games, but there was not as many people as last year.
A funny thing that happened is I asked my Mom why it was called British Soccer Camp since the coaches are from England and Ireland. My Mom told me it is because Ireland and England are part of the British Isles. I did not know that. The countries of Scotland and Wales are part of the British Isles too.
The best part of camp was the games that we played, like Wild West. In this game we had to try to get to the other side of the field while the coaches kicked balls at our shins. It didn’t hurt though because we had shin guards.
We also got to have a water balloon fight at the end of camp.
The hardest part was the heat. It was 90 or even 100 degrees Fahrenheit outside.
Camp was really cool, and all of the kids said they would come back next year. I hope that they do. We were lucky to have professional soccer coaches teaching us right here in Libby so our parents don’t have to drive us long distances.
Our coaches were kind of hard to understand because of their accents, but we also had fun learning about their cultures. Coach Will even told us how much he loves pig’s blood pudding. Yuk!
(Picture) Some of the full day British Soccer Camp participants posed for a photo with their coaches after a water fight on Friday, July 20. Photo by Tracy McNew, The Montanian.