RHIAN SOCCER JOURNALS   

HOME AGAIN AND ADIDAS                16th August 2011

Hello all,

I have enjoyed being back in Canada over the last little while. It is great to hang out with family and friends again.  It’s also been good to meet some of the people who were cheering us on during the FIFA World Cup.

Last week, Melissa Tancredi, Erin McLeod and I participated in several
days of camps put on by adidas Canada.  These took place in Ottawa and many teams from the area signed up to hang out with us for the day. Kudos to adidas, as the camps were very well organized, and we worked with a ton of enthusiastic kids. The event was therefore tiring, but a lot of fun.

In the mornings we ran the kids through their paces.  Each of us led a
40 minute session, focusing on different skills.  Erin, being a keeper, led a series of agility and coordination activities, while Melissa, the
striker, did led a series of dribbling moves and 1 v 1s.  Since I am a
midfielder, I focused mainly on first touch and passing. 

My activity was by far the most boring, but hopefully the campers at least learned something! The participants ranged in age from 5 to 18, so as each new team stopped by our activity station we had to alter our drills to fit the skill level. We were challenged.

I always try to give the kids something new to try at home, even if
for the youngest ones it may be just learning one thing and then use it to play a fun game for the remaining 30 minutes.

The afternoons were a little more relaxed. We played sharks and
minnows (aka British Bulldog, aka get to the other sideline with your
ball without the person in the middle kicking it away.)  If your ball
is lost, you join the sharks in the middle. 

By popular demand, the coaches mainly played the role of sharks, and competitive as we are, punted the kids balls into the end zone. I did take one turn at being a minnow, but Erin quickly set about 20 kids on me, and my plans to win the game were quickly foiled.

To finish up the day, we each gave a short talk about ourselves and our experiences in soccer, and then spent time answering questions, taking pictures and signing autographs.

Adidas had cleverly also provided an inflatable shooting cage, as well as an inflatable goal that the kids could stand on it to face shots from a shooting cannon. (This was literally a cannon used to hurl balls at the
keepers automatically). Great fun, and this was a great time. Adidas did an amazing job putting on the camp for the local teams!

After the camp ended, I met up with Rhian and the two of us headed to
Amy Walsh’s cabin in the Laurentians for the weekend. It was wonderful to see Amy again, and it is always fun to hang out with her and her family!  I just wish we lived a little closer together so I could spend more time crashing their family vacations!

From here, it was down to Montreal to hang out with Rhian for a few days, and after almost drowning in her community pool, I had to return home and get back to a regular routine. That’s it from me, I hope everyone is having a fantastic summer!         Diana