Alumni Coach Middle School Camp

Down the street from the Elementary Summer Camp, middle school and high school students are participating in a different camp. Every Wednesday during the month of July, a group of ten LA SCORES alumni meet at the middle school field to coach the middle school players.

Earlier in the summer, the alumni attended a special training put on by Team Up For Youth -- an organization that recruits and trains volunteer coaches in California -- to learn basic drills, fun games, and techniques for coaching younger kids. This month they've been able to take what they learn and put it into action at Palms Middle School. At practice, groups of two or three alumni each organize a drill at a station -- shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, etc. -- then they divide the middle schoolers up into small groups and have them rotate through the stations. After each group completes all of the drills, they scrimmage together.

As coaches, the alumni are showing the middle schoolers that LA SCORES doesn't end when you graduate 5th or 8th grade. Those who are interested can still be a part of the program through volunteer coaching or even just coming out to play soccer with old friends. It is our hope that this will start a new tradition where the current middle schoolers come back with their friends as high schoolers every summer to help teach new 6th graders soccer skills and the value of community.