Soccer camp embraces a couple of goals
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Roughly 160 campers and more than 100 volunteers have taken over the soccer fields at Bishop Smith Catholic High School for Calvary Baptist Church's annual High Power Soccer Camp.
The camp is in its 10th year, and some of the volunteers have been with it the entire time.
“There are roughly 20 staff who have done it for all 10 years. Some of them were campers when it started. It's great to see people who come through the program who want to be a part of it when they get older,” said John van der Kuur, who has been the camp director for all 10 years of the program
Ten years ago Calvary Baptist Church decided that there was a need in the community so they invited a team from British Columbia to come and train some members of the congregation to lead soccer camp.
“The program really meets the needs of kids, it's more than just soccer it's building values into kids. We focus on building life on a sound foundation. It's not just soccer; it's soccer and so much more,” said van der Kuur.
Each day, after warming up, the campers go through a bunch of different drills and some fun activities, like kicking a soccer ball through a straw maze.
Then after a snack time they head inside for The Zone, where they sing songs, meet Captain Canada, get their favourite leaders to do something crazy like eat hot peppers, watch a drama and learn the verse of the day.
Associate Pastor Tim Roddick is the camp's Versinator.
“As the Versinator I teach the kids the memory verse in the roll of a drill sergeant. The kids enjoy learning the verses and showing others that they've learned the verse,” said Roddick.
Once The Zone is finished the campers and staff all head out to the soccer fields for a huddle time and then they play soccer until the camp day is done.
“My favourite part is seeing all the leaders. We have 100 plus leaders and volunteers, a lot of them took time off work. Several of them make this an annual thing even though they don't live here; they spend the week at a friend's or grandparents so they can come and help,” said Roddick.
The camp runs the first week of July and ends on Sunday, July 14 with a service and BBQ at Calvary Baptist Church at 10:30 a.m.
Christina Van Starkenburg is a Daily Observer multimedia journalist.