Camp Challenger brings world soccer to ML

British instructors teach kids the ins and outs of the world's most popular sport

Soccer-loving kids are having a ball in Moses Lake.

Camp Challenger, a Britain-based traveling soccer clinic has landed in Moses Lake, teaching kids from the area the secrets behind the sport.

The clinic is part of a tour of 49 states by a group of nearly two dozen coaches. In Washington, they have held similar camps in Silverdale, Stanwood and Bremerton.

The Moses Lake kids who have arrived at Garden Heights Elementary School are split into five camps, one for girls under nine years old, one for boys in the same age group, one of boys under eight years old and two camps for girls under eleven years old.

Given their age, they are not taught really advanced intricacies, instead, the coaches prefer to go slightly beyond the basics of dribbling, passing, shooting and defending the ball.

"We want to develop the players' abilities more," said John Cotton, one of the local coaches, from the Moses Lake Youth Soccer Association.

Local coaches also receive instruction, with soccer clinics being held exclusively for them.

Another purpose of the camp, the local coaches agree, is to expose kids to better coaching, in this case, players with semiprofessional experience in European leagues.

Since this is a team camp, where teams as a whole participate and not just individual players, the local teams' coaches take notes and learn about what their kids are learning, as well.

Paul Hernandez, coach of the Moses Lake Whitecaps praised Camp Challenger as an opportunity to not only learn about the sport but to further kids' interest in the sport.

The kids, of varying abilities have a blast during camp, mixing their love of the outdoors with their admiration for soccer stars such as Freddy Adu.

Anton Heffron, the camp's director said that the key is in mixing games as rewards in with the drills so that the kids strive to do better during the drills in order to play more games.

"We love soccer because it's fun!!" the entire Moses Lake Crushers' girls soccer team yelled when asked about the popularity of the sport. "We can hit the ball and we can play with anything at home."