North Bay Soccer Camp Week 1

Time to get this party started! Soccer camp is always two of the best weeks of our year!

I'm not a huge fan of the youngest group so I usually try to take them the first afternoon so I can spend the rest of the week outside with the older kids. This year, however, Jahlil and Savannah stayed in with me on Monday and we had the best time with these cute young kids! We played several fun games, including Soccer, Soccer, Soccer, Ball (Duck, Duck, Goose).

Jahlil kept them focused on juggling skills.

We definitely had to take several breaks to just goof off...

and take lots of selfies!

However, the majority of our afternoon is supposed to be playing soccer so we did a lot of that as well.
Noah working hard at his indoor game.

Some of my favorite campers!

Jersey Contest Day is always a big hit with the kids and the Pierces all got into the spirit of it!

Noah teamed up with Tyler, the USA man, and they ended up being the winners!

Savannah and Xander, along with the rest of the older kids, spend most of the day outside, doing drills and playing lots of 3 v 3 games. Even at soccer camp Savannah leads the pack in running laps.

Receiving instruction from Coach Bill.

Afternoon World Cup games. Go Portugal!

Lunch time is always a much needed break. Jesse is always good for lots of laughs!

And then there's the popular movie Soccer Dog!

It kept the kids riveted for several lunch times but the best thing about the movie had to be the side commentary coming from Coach Bill.

Alex was my assistant again this year and although he drove me and the kids nuts at times, we had a blast together. I just have to make sure that he doesn't go overboard with his coaching. He likes to envision himself as a drill sergeant and thinks its funny to yell at the kids (in a goofy way) and send them on laps when they don't do what he wants. But for the most part he's great with the kids and they love spending time with Coach Alex.

A running joke with me and Alex the first week was this little kid Andrew. He and his sister did not get along so he had to be Coach Bill's special helper but he did hang out with me and Alex from time to time. He wasn't too thrilled about playing soccer which meant a whole lot of his time was spent on the sidelines talking to us coaches.  One afternoon, for 45 minutes straight, he expressed his concerns to me about the lawn mower mowing all of the campers down because we were in its way.  I kept assuring him that the lawn mowing guy knew we were there and would not mow any of us down but his concern was real and he was very vocal about it.  Boy, that was a long 45 minutes!

Alex's drill sergeant hat.

Good assistants get smiley face cookies!

Bad assistants take the afternoon off to lay out while the coach continues to instruct the campers. Bill and I had a good "laugh" over this one. I guess it was more me laughing; Bill, not so much.

My favorite part about camp is the relationships we develop with the campers as well as the coaches. We have so much fun together! Cole let me style his hair...

and Noah loved hangin' on Jahlil every chance he got.

Best buds!

There was lots of great soccer to watch...these kids are really improving!

And we all got in tip-top shape under Jahlil's direction!

Apparently Coach Jahlil's name is pretty hard to pronounce because one of the younger girls kept calling him Coach Jello. When Coach Bill found out about this new nickname, he of course made a big deal about it.

He had the young camper present Coach Jello with an official North Bay Soccer Camp T-shirt. We're always looking for ways to make this camp even more fun for the kids, ha ha!

Coach Jello looking good and official.

The last morning of camp is always filled with fun games for the campers. Alex set up a great soccer golf course which included the playground...

and had them finish up on the swings where they had to swing with the ball between their legs and then pop the ball in the air and kick it. The one who kicked the ball the farthest won. I was quite impressed with some of the distances these kids got.

There were goalie wars...

and soccer tennis;

World Cup...

and hang out in the shade time.

More goalie wars...

and laughs with Coach Bill.

All too soon Week 1 had come to an end. What a great group of kids!

Time to grab those final pictures!

We made it through the first week!!!!

That calls for some Sonic slushie goodness!