PUHI — Fred Hsu, director of the National Soccer Academy, said students interested in participating in the 2012 Kaua‘i Soccer Camp can still show up and register at pro-rated rates. The annual soccer camp opened Monday at the Grove Farm
PUHI — Fred Hsu, director of the National Soccer Academy, said students interested in participating in the 2012 Kaua‘i Soccer Camp can still show up and register at pro-rated rates.
The annual soccer camp opened Monday at the Grove Farm Park located in the back of Kaua‘i Harley-Davidson with a field of about 18 players of differing ages.
“Kids can still show up and get in at pro-rated fees,” said Hsu, who has been leading the NSA camps for years. “They just come and show up and be prepared to have fun.”
The annual camp, coinciding with the Department of Education’s winter break, is also a spotting ground for players who have an interest of taking soccer to the next level.
Since 1996, NSA has offered the annual Christmas Soccer Camp for Kaua‘i players. In addition to having lots of fun and learning the NSA way, hundreds of players, including some from Kaua‘i, have been selected to join NSA Tournament teams to participate in international soccer tours and major events on the Mainland, according to the camp’s registration form.
During the fall break camp, Carlos Steinhaus-Lang, Hayley Overmyer and Haden Guest were selected to join the NSA Tournament team to participate in the Surf Cup Thanksgiving Tournament played in San Diego, where nearly 400 college coaches were in attendance.
In 1996, the NSA Girls13 team made up of 50 percent Kaua‘i players left a legacy by winning all 18 games and championships in the Stockholm Cup, Dana Cup and Dalecarlia Cup played in Europe.
Arlene Devitt, who went on to star at the University of Hawai‘i soccer program and help coach at Kaua‘i High School; Mytra DiLeonardo, a Kapa‘a High School soccer standout and current assistant coach at Kaua‘i High School girls soccer; as well as Mariah Farley, Melia Foster, Emily Ishida, Kristian Keahi, Christina Marti, Brandi Nakano and Reiko Yoshida, the current Kaua‘i High School girls soccer coach, were among those team members.
The NSA soccer camps offer all-day and half-day programs, the all-day camps running from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. while the half-day program meets from 9 a.m. to noon for the morning sessions, and 1 to 4 p.m. for the afternoon sessions.
Coming on the heels of the NSA camp in Puhi, Kyle Nakazawa, a University of California, Los Angeles, All-American and a player with MLS’s Los Angeles Galaxy will be hosting his camp, starting Friday and running through Sunday at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Sports Park in Wailua, near Lydgate Park.
Nakazawa will be joined by other professional and collegiate players including David Estrada of the Seattle Sounds; Lauren Barnes, a Division I college coach at the University California, Riverside; the USA National Beach Soccer Team; Mariko Strickland and Trevor Hunter, the goalkeeping coach, with goalkeeping-specific training.
“The whole idea behind the camp is to give back to the community of Kaua‘i which offered me so much while I was growing up,” Nakazawa said in an earlier release. “My family lives in Kapa‘a so I would spend my school year on the Mainland, but my breaks were on Kaua‘i.”
He said players of all ages and levels can attend the camp which offers Kaua‘i soccer players an opportunity to learn and train with some of the top professional and college players.
Visit www.kylenakazawa.com for more information.
