43
English soccer experts share skills
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .The boys and girls of the Boardman Youth Soccer Association's UK International Soccer Camp, held from Aug. 15-19, posed with their British soccer coaches during a practice on Aug. 18.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Boardman Youth Soccer athletes tried out their skills in defending during a Aug. 18 practice in their UK International Soccer Camp.
Photo
Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Soccer professional Lloyd Martin (left) gave some pointers to his students during a practice game in his UK International Soccer Camp on Aug. 18.
By SARAH FOOR
The week of Aug. 19 was an exciting one for a group of Boardman athletes. Thanks to the cooperation between Boardman Youth Soccer and the U.K. International Soccer Camp, 16 Boardman athletes learned indispensible teaching from two English soccer professionals.
London natives Lloyd Martin and Kevin O’Connor provided a week of activities focusing on improvement in dribbling, passing, control, shooting and defense. Urgency was added to the proceedings with the introduction of a “Little World Cup,” where students represented countries from around the world and competed for the trophy at the week’s close.
“The small group of students has really blossomed with the personal attention that Lloyd and Kevin are providing,” shared BSA representative Amy Murray at an Aug. 18 camp class.
“Learning about the World Cup and having our own, has been really amazing,” said camper Sarah Murray.
After good-naturedly clearing up that fields are referred as a “pitch” and cleats as “boots” in their native England, O’Connor and Martin said their Boardman camp experience has been a joy.
“We’re having an awesome week. The students are hard workers and it’s really an honor to share our knowledge with such a wonderful community,” O’Connor said.