So, the Auburn soccer camp, eh? Let me tell you, it was an adventure, and not always the kind you see in the brochures. My kid, suddenly obsessed with becoming the next soccer superstar, just had to go. And Auburn was the name everyone threw around. “It’s great!” they said. Well, “great” can mean a lot of things, can’t it?
Getting Signed Up and Ready
First off, signing up. That was a whole process. You know the drill. Online portals that look like they haven’t been updated since the internet was dial-up. Click here, fill that, upload this. I swear, I spent a good hour just trying to figure out which t-shirt size wouldn’t make my kid look like they were wearing a tent or a sausage casing. But, we got through it. Payment processed. Confirmation email received (after checking spam, of course).
Then came the gear. Oh, the gear. You’d think they were prepping for a World Cup final.
- Shin guards? Check.
- Cleats? Had to buy new ones, naturally. Feet grow faster than weeds.
- Water bottle? The biggest one we could find.
- Sunscreen? Enough to coat a small army.
It all went into a bag that seemed way too big for a few days of kicking a ball around. But better safe than sorry, right? That’s what I told myself.
First Day Impressions and My “Extended Stay”
The first day. Dropped the kid off, and it was… organized chaos. That’s the best way to put it. Kids everywhere, a mix of excitement and pure terror on their little faces. Coaches, mostly young college-age folks, trying their best to herd them into groups. It looked like they could use an extra pair of hands. Or ten.
And that’s kind of how I ended up seeing more of this camp than I planned. One of the organizers looked absolutely frazzled, asked if any parents could stick around for a bit just to help with water breaks and finding lost shin guards. My schedule was unexpectedly free, so I figured, why not? Thought it’d be an hour. It turned into me being a pseudo-assistant for a good chunk of the camp. So, I got the real inside scoop, not just the “my kid had fun” report at the end of the day.
What Really Went On
Let me tell you, it’s a mixed bag. The coaching staff, for the most part, were enthusiastic. They knew their stuff, or at least enough to teach ten-year-olds how to pass and dribble. They ran drills, set up small games. Lots of running. Lots and lots of running. My kid came back each day looking like they’d wrestled a mud puddle and lost.
But the organization? A bit… loose. Sometimes cones weren’t where they should be. Schedules seemed more like suggestions. One day, they almost ran out of water for one of the groups until someone (okay, it was me) pointed it out and ran to fetch more from the main supply. It wasn’t a disaster, just… not the well-oiled machine you might expect from a camp with “Auburn” in its name.
It felt like they were making it up as they went along sometimes. Different skill levels all kind of mashed together in some drills. You’d have one kid who could barely kick the ball straight next to another who was doing fancy footwork. Made for some interesting moments, I’ll give them that. One little guy accidentally scored an own goal and then celebrated like he’d won the championship. You can’t make this stuff up.
The Good, The Bad, and The Sweaty
The snack situation was also a classic. Some pre-packaged stuff that probably had more sugar than a candy store. Good thing I’d packed extra fruit. Always pack extra fruit, that’s my motto for these things.
But here’s the thing: despite the mild chaos, the kids? They were having a blast. Most of them, anyway. They were running around, making friends, getting dirty. My kid learned a new “move” (which looked suspiciously like tripping over the ball but with flair) and wouldn’t stop talking about it for a week. They were exhausted but happy at the end of each day. And isn’t that the point?
So, yeah, the Auburn soccer camp. It wasn’t perfect. It wasn’t some elite training facility churning out pros. It was a bunch of kids, some enthusiastic (and slightly overwhelmed) coaches, and a whole lot of soccer. If you’re looking for military precision, this might not be it. But if you want your kid to run around, kick a ball, and come home tired and happy, it does the job. You just gotta be prepared for a few bumps along the way. And maybe bring extra water. And snacks. Definitely snacks.
