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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]I'll only recommend camps that I have direct experience with that I can say are quality -

#1 - Soccer Academy
#2 - Golden Boot Soccer

There are many others in the area but I can't say how good they are one way or another since I don't have experience with them. [/quote]

Hey, thanks for the recommendation, AMA Soccer Coach! We value referrals from our players and parents, but shout-outs from fellow professionals mean a lot to us as well.

- Amanda in the Golden Boot Soccer office[/quote]

I'll send a shout out to GB, as well.  I have two boys, one is a lower-end travel player who enjoys the game, but doesn't have a lot of passion or work ethic.  The other is at the high-end of the spectrum with insane passion and a strong work ethic. Both have done Golden Boot camps in the past two years and both had great experiences. [b]I really felt like there was good value in what I paid for both kids. All of the staff I interacted with were fantastic[/b].[/quote]

[b]Wrong[/b]. I manage a 4th-grade baseball team and coach on a travel ballclub, and you can't serve both the lazy kids an dthe "high-end of the spectrum" (WTH does that mean? Just say "talented"). A smart program serves the top end kids, and then gets the rec kids to pay tuition to help the travel team. One drill I use in tryouts is to have my top pitchers practice brushback pitches against the kids who are going to get cut anyway. You're not risking any of your depth while you train your staff to own every inch of the  strike zone (and a couple of inches off the plate as well!).

IN soccer, then, you could take your backup travel kids and have them practice against say fifteen rec kids (11 in soccer, right?). It's like when the best women's basketball programs would get a bunch of men to practice against them--the men were much better and the women had to step up their game. You can't use your own older travel team to "play down" for the purpose of the younger travel team, but if you stack the numbers (and say shorten the rec pitcher's distance to the plate) you can simulate stepped-up competition for the travel kid backups you're trying to develop.

Give a shout, Coach, if you want other advice.[/quote]

I stand by my comments on Golden Boot. WTF does your travel baseball team have to do with my comments on soccer camps?  But I am glad to hear that you're using your less talented players as cannon fodder for your pitchers.  Now there's a great development philosophy that's sure to instill the love of the game in those players.  That's sarcasm in case your baseball-sized brain didn't pick up on it.  I'll also try to avoid phrasing like "high end of the spectrum" next time around. Talented would've worked just as well, so thanks for pointing that out.

Camps can accommodate groups of kids at different levels if the staff is good.  I think GB did a good job of that and both of my kids enjoyed their experiences at a few different GB camps they did.[/quote]

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