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Saipan Soccer School summer camp draws 180 enrollees
Volunteer coach Jacky Lee, left, assists Beatrice Gross in performing a drill during the Saipan Soccer School’s 2017 Summer Camp last week at the TSL Sports Complex. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)
A total of 180 signed up for Saipan Soccer School’s 20017 Summer Camp at the TSL Sports Complex.
The participants in the camp that started last June 5 and will conclude tomorrow are taught the basics on basketball and soccer through the guidance of volunteer coaches. Campers were divided into two age groups with the first batch made up of participants in the U10 division and the second having individuals in the U12 category. The U10 participants have their soccer lessons from 8:30am to 10am, while they switch courts with the U12 campers for the basketball session that run from 10am to 11:30am. Members of the CNMI Women’s National Team and Girls U14 Team pools are the volunteer coaches, assisting SSS staff and a couple of coaches from Chelsea FC Soccer School (Hong Kong).
“I enjoyed both playing basketball and soccer and making new friends,” said Beatrice Gross, who has been attending the camp for nearly two weeks.
The camp runs from Monday to Friday and director Cristy Villaflor said they averaged between 80 to 90 individuals per day.
“The children are very enthusiastic as they actively participate in every drills. You can see from their faces that they are enjoying the camp and are excited meeting new friends,” Villaflor said. “They look forward to the next day of the camp after each session has been completed. We even have participants who are here on Saipan just for their summer vacation and they decided to join the camp to have fun and learn.”
Jessica Ortizo, who enrolled her son and daughter—Mark and Kaye—in the camp, said it’s nice to see her children doing something worthwhile during summer vacation instead of staying home.
“If they will stay home, they will just play with their gadgets and watch TV. Every year, I look for a way to have my children spend their summer break to something that would benefit them, like this summer camp,” Jessica said.
Meanwhile, SSS would like to thank the Public School System and the Food and Nutrition Services for providing meals to each camp participant after every session. The camp organizer also acknowledged the support of the Tan Siu Lin Foundation and all volunteer coaches/players.
