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by Dan Veaner
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Friday, 20 June 2008 |
Monday evening saw what appeared to be a miniature soccer game in the middle of Myers Park. Closer inspection proved that it WAS a miniature soccer game, with Kindergarten through Third Graders learning skills and playing games. This was part of Mini-Soccer Camp, an annual offering of the Lansing Recreation Department, and coached by Lansing Varsity Soccer Coach Adam Heck. "Every year we get about 50 kids and the high schoolers get to be on the other side of things where they get to organize the kids," Heck says. "The young kids really enjoy being with the older kids."
Heck says this is the fifth year of the camp, which typically attracts about 50 players. This year he says that 52 are enrolled. Most of them came out despite threatening weather Monday, and the camp ran Tuesday and Wednesday as well. "We might get a little rain, but what's soccer without a little rain?" Heck says.
The two hour sessions begin with Varsity players teaching the younger kids specific skills, which they get to use in a game at the end of the session. Heck says the Varsity players rise to the occasion, getting a chance to be on the coaching side of the game and getting a perspective on how their coach approaches them when they are playing. Kids got to win prizes in the Wednesday finale.
"This is a little more hands on than the older camp, because the kids ability to stay focussed isn't as good," Heck notes. "They're younger and a lot more creative. It's a task, but the kids do a great job of doing it."
Heck also heads the Annual Soccer Camp for fourth through ninth graders in August on the town ball fields. But he says that Myers Park is the perfect spot for the Mini-Soccer camp. "This is a great spot because the parents can walk around the park and enjoy the lake," he says. "The kids can wind down their school year. They're done at eight, they go home and probably crash!"
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