Athletes, coaches take on CU kids camps

 

 

Carleton’s varsity hockey, soccer and basketball programs are preparing to welcome Ottawa’s athletes of the future to campus this summer.

 

Boys and girls aged seven to 17 will be taking over the university’s athletic facilities in July and August as these big three campus sports open up a variety of camps ranging from guard, post and shooting camps in basketball, to a junior fundamentals program in soccer, to an elite minor hockey goaltending camp. 

 

Kids will be taught the fundamentals of their game and coaches will instill the necessary training regime and motivation needed to compete at the university level.

 

“It’s great for the kids,” said Ravens varsity men’s hockey coach Fred Parker. “They get to work with some high-level players, players that have that experience, and it’s great to pass that on to the younger players.”

 

The three sports’ respective coaches will oversee the camps, while their current and former varsity athletes and guests will do the coaching.

 

But all work and no fun is not the agenda.

 

The camps will emphasize enjoying all the athletic resources Carleton has to offer.

 

“The difference at Carleton is the facilities,” said Parker about the distinction between these camps and others offered around the city. 

 

“It’s not only the on-ice fun, but all the off-ice,” he said.

 

“It’s a full day with swimming and all the facilities we have to offer.”

 

Sandy Mackie, the Ravens varsity men’s soccer coach, said these camps are held in part because they raise the profile of Carleton’s sports programs and the university community itself. 

 

He said the camps also provide the young players with an idea of what a varsity program is like.

 

“It’s a different age group, so the expectations are different,” Mackie said about the camps compared to a real Ravens camp. 

 

“You have to look at skill levels. Some of the stuff is more intense and some is less intense, but the game is the same.”

 

Andrew Park, a coach at the soccer camps and a former forward with the Ravens, said this is his fifth year involved with the camps, but his first year involved specifically with the soccer program. 

 

He said these camps help him keep up with coaching and also enhance his own knowledge with the vast experience of other coaches.

 

Park said he is looking forward to learning from the guest coaches as well as helping young players develop their skills and enjoyment of the game.

 

Varsity women’s basketball coach Taffe Charles said he has been involved with the Carleton summer sports camps since “way back in the 90s” when he coached as a varsity player. 

 

Now a camp director, he said it is this year’s varsity players who will have a chance to teach the young players some skills.

 

“As a coach you tend to influence people,” Charles said. 

 

“You know you can’t please the world, but if you can help out one kid it makes all the difference.”

 

Parker agreed, emphasizing that the camps focus on getting kids to learn the fundamentals while having a little fun at the same time.