Retired pro soccer player Andy Kennedy coached CU campers this July ( Photo: Adam Dietrich )

For two weeks in July, rain or shine, youth dressed in bright T-shirts and soccer socks unloaded from minivans every morning into the Fieldhouse. Campers at Carleton’s high performance/elite soccer camp headed out to Keith Harris Stadium, ready to play on the pitch. Coach Andy Kennedy led them through drills and games. It seemed like your average soccer camp, until you got up close.

Kennedy spoke in a thick Scottish accent, not unlike that of Ravens’ men’s head soccer coach Sandy Mackie. Kennedy came all the way from Scotland to coach two weeks of soccer camp. A former professional player with the Glasgow Rangers, Kennedy is a celebrity in his hometown. He grew up 30 minutes away from the Rangers. In Stirling, Scotland, Kennedy said he played in youth leagues and cheered for the local soccer team. In 1982, striker Kennedy was signed to the Rangers.

“Growing up as a wee boy, to get the opportunity to play for the club you always supported — it’s every boy’s dream,” Kennedy said. In essence, he gained the same fame that an Ottawa Valley boy would see getting drafted to the Senators. “There’s not much hockey, football [soccer] is our main sport,” he said. With loans and spells with other teams, Kennedy wore not only the Rangers’ jersey, but also those of other U.K. teams, including the Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Birmingham City and Sheffi eld United. After retiring, he said hedecided to try his hand at coaching. “One of my ex-teammates was coaching and I started going to a few games,” he said.

“I found I had a lot of fl air for it and I enjoyed seeing the kids develop.” He has been coaching with the Rangers’ junior development program since 2005 Mackie asked Kennedy to come coach last year at the Carleton camps, and Kennedy returned for a second year this July. The way Kennedy grew up learning soccer differs from Canadian youth soccer, he said.

“I think they need to have a better standard at a younger age [in Canada],” Kennedy said. “Get them early — between seven and eight years old.” Kennedy is trying to implement the European structure he grew up with in the Carleton camps by breaking the game down slowly and taking the youth players through more technical game development.

European players grow up with an advantage because of the technical knowledge taught at a young age and the standard they are expected to keep, he said. Kennedy said he has come to Canada to spread his love for soccer and push young players forward with their game. “It’s everything I did when I was a boy,” he said. “Everywhere I went, I had the ball with me.”