The Redcoats are coming!

Well, they're not Redcoats in the bad sense of the word, anymore. But, the Brits and Scots, etc. have arrived in North Texas and they're teaching our children soccer. It is too much fun once we get past all the administrative stuff that I'm having to worry about. But, it really isn't that bad.

The camp coordinating coach is staying with us, which makes sense since I am the local association coordinator. We've had fun and I'm meeting lots of parents, coaches and kids, so that is nice.

Camp started with an introduction of the coaches to the campers. I missed some of this while still answering parents' questions. The coach we're hosting is from Ripley, England. Here are the nine coaches introducing themselves.

Afterwards, the kids were separated by gender and age to get some assessment and skills coaching. The pic below is pretty typical of my eldest *sigh.* He was more interested in the dragon flies than the coach. By the way, those little black specks in the picture are dragon flies. This coach, though, didn't take any crap from Pickle and made him push his little butt.


Now, he did get in there and play. He is probably one of the smallest kids in his group, but he isn't the youngest. The little guy in the white is my kiddo. He is getting some good experience playing with the bigger, older kids.

Above is Coach Collin about to demonstrate the Respect hand gesture they make the campers do when they need their attention. The coaches yell RESPECT and the kids have to respond by crossing their arms and repeating it. The coaches gave them a break with a treat by showing off a bit. They did a ball-handling game where the first coach to let his ball hit the ground was subjected to the hall of shame and the Loser treatment. Here Coach Collin and Coach Laura juggle the ball.

And, here is the Loser.

The boys were put on teams and got to scrimmage. They both loved that. They're on Finland and England. They both did well. Hot Rod took on the stud of his age group and held his own.

Pickle did well against the big kids, too. Here is one of the giant kids he took on and didn't back down from. Not the greatest picture, but the kids were moving in and out of my frame pretty quickly.

My only complaints were that we ran out of shirts and balls today and some parents didn't bring their kids any water or sports drinks. *shaking my head* I just don't get it. I was having to give out what we had so these kids wouldn't keel over. I don't understand some parents. One more camp session to get started tonight and we are underway!!!