We recently finished our summer camp season.  We kicked off with our day camp that had 99 boys and girls ages 7-13.  We would start each day focusing on a technical skill and would finish the morning with a tournament that utilized that skill.  It was great to see the campers get competitive and exhibit the will to win.  You can tell which campers really get into the game and rise to the occasion.  It was also great to see them working together with players they just met to strategize and put themselves in the best formation to succeed.  I love team sports for this reason.  If you can maximize the best attributes of each player on the field, and work together then you've got a shot.  We would end the camp each day with Soccer Olympics.  The campers really get excited about this week long competition, as do the camp coaches!  You can always count on Rachel Gielau to come up with an obnoxious country chant and for Coach Oswald to be in a full body sweat after coaching, encouraging, and willing her team finish strong.

After our wrapping up our day camp, we had our skills clinic for 4-6 year olds.  These kids are so cute with their little shin guards and big smiles.  They are so eager to learn.  Their camp was topped off with a visit from Spike.

We finished off with our residential camp.  We had 70 girls ages 12-18 for four days and three nights.  The playing ability of our campers was impressive this summer.  Teenage girls are hilarious... the amount of energy they have is unbelievable.  I think our Drake players were more exhausted than any of the campers.  We hosted the Women's Professional Soccer tournament, Women's CONCACAF Gold Cup, Women's World Cup, and of course, the campers favorite... Soccer Olympics.  (See picture below of the team from Japan- quite creative!)  Not only were the competitions intense, but the training sessions were competitive.  This camp always gets me excited for our incoming players and the upcoming season.  It seems that the talent level of the youth players is always improving and our incoming players will challenge our current players and fit in nicely with our team.  It's great to see our Drake players give back to the game.  Just a few years ago they were campers that weren't really sure what college soccer was all about, and now they're teaching, sharing, and reaching out to younger players that have similar ambitions.

-Coach Horner