The Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle wrapped up the latest installment of its long-running World Cup Camp last week.
“We have fun with it and don’t emphasize the results, rather we emphasize the application of the skills they’ve been learning each day,” said SOCA’s executive director Bill Mueller.
The week-long camp puts together a mix of recreation, challenge and travel players at a variety of levels with nearly 200 players at the two locations — Charlottesville and Waynesboro. With SOCA’s recent absorption of the formerly-named Augusta FC, they now operate two locations of the World Cup camp and many other programs. The World Cup camp places players at a number of age levels on teams referred to by country names like England and France. The squads then matchup in a fun environment of games and instruction including the World Cup Tournament format.
“The camp is definitely trying to provide good, solid instruction in a fun environment,” Mueller said. “We want players to think about what they’ve been taught, and how to apply the skills in the games. For example at the end of each night we ask, “what did you learn?” and at the beginning of each evening we review the topic and some key coaching points from the night before.”
The result is a camp that’s become a Charlottesville tradition and is poised to remain that way for years to come.
“World Cup Camp is also just flat out fun,” Mueller said. “We believe that having fun leads to greater interest and involvement by the player, which in turn fuels their pursuit of their individual goals.”
