Saturday 28 September 2013

2013 IQALUIT, NUNAVIT U14 SOCCER CAMP


 

For the second time in the past two years Amy Vermulen and myself have been lucky enough to conduct soccer camps for kids in the remote community of Iqaluit, Nunavit. The trip from Denman Island takes two days to get there, with a sleep-over en route in Ottawa. The experience of flying into Iqaluit is like none other, as the first time we made the trip both Amy and myself looked at each other with wide eyes as our plane approached the harbour the city surrounds and of course the airport landing strip.  I am pretty sure the two of us have been lucky enough to see many different parts of the world but this was truly unique. Everything was brown, as there is no grass, no trees and granite everywhere. There were icebergs floating in the harbour as we prepared to land. At first glance, the main building for the airport looked like a station one might approach when landing on the moon- bright yellow and made completely of large sheets of steel. Now that we have made the trip twice, the experience gets even better as we build relationships with the kids in the community as well as the coaches. The second time around the keys for the car were left under the driver's seat for us to find our own way to the hotel- a sure sign we are treated as one of the locals. The soccer camp is a tremendous amount of work for all involved, as we teach, play, eat, teach, play eat, teach, play, eat with all of the meals being provided throughout the weekend to the players in the camp. It is truly a pleasure to work with the 60 young soccer players that we do in the each camp, as the time together works wonders for skill development and igniting passion for the game.



Wednesday 18 September 2013

2013 FALL GOALKEEPER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS



 The Vancouver Island Soccer Academy pleased to announce the initial phase of our goalkeeper development program. The program aims to provide education and training to youth goalkeepers ages U11-U16. Shel Brodsgaard, the VISA founder (est. 2013) and former Canadian Soccer Association National Teams Goalkeeper Coach will ensure the development opportunity is beneficial and rewarding for everyone involved in the program. The long term goal is to develop both the level of play for the youth goalkeeper as well as identify and locate future goalkeeper trainers from within the local communities.

Monday, September 23rd to Monday, November 11th x 8 weeks
5:30 pm to 6:30 pm at Queenesh
(Please note, the times will be adjusted according to the daylight and weather)
U11, U12, U13, U14, U15, U16
$100.00 payable to Island Keeper Clinics

Goalkeeper Trainers:
Mackenzie Zirkl
Dave Callow
Alex Jones
Cassidee Wood
Bruce Mitchell
Shel Brodsgaard

Further information is available by contacting sheldano@telus.net and future program information available at http://soccerwithshel.blogspot.ca/