House League players from the Sunshine Coast Youth Soccer Association (SCYSA) got some top-notch instruction from one of the best coaches in the province this week.
Drew Ferguson brought his Fergie's Soccer Camp to Cliff Gilker Park for five days of instruction for more than 60 players ages six to 13.
"In year's past we've had 60 to 70 kids altogether, but this year we decided to break it up a bit and have different sessions for all the age groups," said Ferguson. "It makes for a long day for me, but I've got a few players from the U17 of U18 girls' rep teams helping out. That's great because they get to work with the younger kids and learn how to be coaches as well."
Morning sessions were reserved for the youngest group, the six to eight year olds, followed by the nine and 10s and the 11-to-13-year-old group in the afternoon.
"We're focusing on a lot of things including passing, dribbling, shooting and running," he said. "If you can't learn how to pass and dribble you can't shoot and you can't score. Running is obviously important because if players don't learn how to position themselves on the field they can't pass, shoot or score properly. Everything is connected. Each day we'll key in on a specific skill and then on Friday we'll incorporate all of those skills together and play some games."
Ferguson said he enjoys putting on these camps on the Sunshine Coast.
"This is one of the best associations that I work with," he said. "A lot of the associations just want to win at all costs and sometimes forget about skill development. This association makes sure to focus its efforts on its house leagues as well as its rep program. We work well with the rep players as well, but you have to work with your house leagues and your grassroots level because you can't have a rep league unless you have a house league. Hopefully these kids will take skills learned here this week to their house league teams and become better players. We might even be able to develop a few future rep players along the way as well."
