A total of 112 Seymour area boys and girls had an opportunity to improve their soccer skills last week at Seymour Owls soccer camp, held at the turf soccer field at the high school.

“We had 29 girls (and 83 boys),” SHS boys head soccer coach Matt Dennis said. The campers were divided into age groups from kindergarteners through incoming ninth graders.

“The younger kids are having a lot of fun with dribbling games and things like that, and they’re doing a lot of passing to (small goals),” he said. “We just want them to have a lot of games where the ball is on their foot the entire time, and they’re having a lot of fun.”

Dennis said the third-fourth grade campers did more advanced drills, including two-on-two.

“We want them to have the ball at their foot as much as possible, with less standing around and more active engagement with smaller numbers and more touches,” Dennis said.

Dennis said in the United States Soccer Federation (USSF), younger groups play 4v4, U9-U10 play 7v7, U11-13 play 9v9, and the 14-year olds and up play 11v11.

The fifth-sixth graders “do a little bit more. They’re playing games and hitting the ball a little bit further. They’re having to pass the ball 10-12 yards, rather than smaller sided. But again, it’s playing some games and having a lot of fun,” Dennis said.

Meadow Copley, who is going into fifth grade, said this was the first year for her to attend the soccer camp.

“I thought it would be fun to come to the camp,” she said. “I like running and kicking the ball.”

Copley said she enjoys playing defense and ‘marking’ an opponent and getting the ball. “I like playing aggressive.”

She plays with the Cyclones. “It gets tiring to go to Indianapolis but playing soccer is fun.”

Copley said she also plans to attend the Owls volleyball camp in July. She said she likes volleyball, basketball, softball and soccer.

The seventh-ninth graders spent part of their time on the practice field, adjacent to the varsity field and Dennis said, “They work on 11v11. Many of them have not played 11v11 so there are things that we do in the 11v11 games that they haven’t done in 9v9.”

Lane Woodard, who is going into eighth grade, said this was his seventh year attending the soccer camp.

“I’m working on controlling the ball,” he said when asked what he worked on at the camp. “Playing soccer is a lot of fun. I just like kicking the ball. I like to play offense. I like the cooler weather.”

Woodard said he looks forward to playing with the middle school team this fall.

Dennis said, “There are things they haven’t gotten through middle school soccer yet, so I want to make sure that they’re learning some of the tactics and skills that we use at the high school level quite a bit.”

Collier Cobreth, an incoming sixth grader, said she attended the soccer camp for the first time this summer.

“I’ve been playing soccer for nine years and I decided I wanted to do a camp. I play mostly defense, but I play some offense. The camp is really fun and I get to meet new people,” she said. “I enjoy not having to use my arms. I like to be able to kick it with my feet. I like to be able to travel (with the Cyclones) to different places. That is kind of fun. I like to play when it’s cooler.”

She also attended the speed school camp at the football field and said she enjoys babysitting.

About 20 members of the SHS boys’ soccer team assisted Dennis at the camp. Dennis said, “I told the high schoolers that their number one job is to make sure that the kids want to come back. Hopefully these kids will want to try travel or at least keep on with rec soccer.”