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Wheeling Recreation Soccer Camp Wraps Up Day 2

Photo by Kyle Lutz / Anthony Mealey, 9, attempts a corner kick during a scrimmage at the Wheeling Recreation Soccer Camp on Tuesday.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Recreation Soccer Camp concluded its second day at the East Wheeling Sports Complex on Tuesday. After another three-hour session, Camp Coordinator Bill Konkle has been pleased with not only the turnout, but the effort that has been put forth by the campers.

“The first two days have gone very well,” Konkle said. “We have about 70 kids, 12 years and under. So far, what we’ve had in two days, the kids are really having a good time and really trying to do all the stuff that we’re instructing them on and stuff like that.”

A typical day for the camp begins with a group warmup. The campers then split up into their three age groups (ages 3-5, 7-8 and 9-12) with their designated coaches.

From there, there’s a certain topic each day with Monday being dribbling and ball skills. On Tuesday, the theme focused on passing. Each group performed a drill pertaining to the topic.

After a popsicle break, all campers come together again and they will be taught a life lesson. The campers will split into their groups again and the camp concludes with small-sided games and scrimmages.

“There’s definitely some good players,” Konkle said. “I think the kids really have a passion for soccer and you can see it when they’re out there scrimmaging. It’s good to see. You know how the youth are playing and getting better. I think with the World Cup, kids watch that and that kind of gave them a little extra motivation to play harder this year at camp.”

Like with all sports, the game can also be a lesson that can be learned in every day life. The campers will learn one of those each of the four days.

“Each day is a different life lesson,” Konkle said. “We try to incorporate the life lesson on how it pertains to on the field and off the field. The first day was focused on decision-making. We explained how you make good decisions on and off the soccer field and then how that translates to actual life.

“(Tuesday), we focused on goal-setting. We talked about how we set goals in a game to achieve what we’re trying to achieve. Then outside of that, you set real goals for what you want to do with your future and things like that. You take small steps to get to those goals. We try to incorporate that in this camp as well.”

While Konkle knows there may be some drills the campers have done previously, he hopes that the kids can take something away after the four-day event concludes.

“I hope that the kids can learn something new,” Konkle said. “Some kids might have seen a certain drill or something like that before. But, hopefully they see something new and hopefully the other kids that don’t play a lot of soccer get a chance to see some coaches, learn some new drills and skills and maybe take something home with them that they can work outside of actual being instructed by a coach.”

With the camp halfway completed, Konkle is looking forward to a great final two days. According to him, the camp will have plenty more of competitions, especially on the last day.

“We have two more days and hopefully we’ll do some competitions on the last day and we want the kids to come out and really try to compete in the different type of competitions we have,” Konkle said. “Whether it’s a shooting competitions, dribbling competition, passing and accuracy competition. So hopefully, we continue to see them motivated to do it and having a lot of fun.”

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