Rising to the Challenge

MONTROSE — This week’s soccer camp at Sunset Mesa was anything but normal.

Throw in some fundamental work, flags and some foreign flair and you have the Challenger British Soccer Camp.

The camp, which was hosted by the Montrose Soccer Club, brought instructors from the United Kingdom to teach over 40 Montrose youth about different levels of soccer.

Many of the campers were from the Montrose Avalanche, a local club soccer team.

“We just want them to enjoy it," said Challengers' instructor Victor Webb, who is originally from England. "This camp is about having fun and enjoying soccer. If you aren't going to enjoy it you aren't going to learn. At the end of the week it is about having a good time and improving.”

The Challengers camp, which started Monday and finishes today, had four different sessions that brought campers from the ages of 3 to 14 years old.

The morning session were for the younger and less experienced kids and provided them with an introduction into the game of soccer, while the evening group went through more of a technical session and was geared for the more developed soccer players.

"We have different drills for different sessions," Challengers' instructor Jamie MacGregor said. "We usually play more games for the younger kids to teach the basics."

While the campers were guaranteed to go home with a soccer ball and a free camp shirt, they also went away with more than that.

"The top thing I learned were the moves," said 12-year-old Brian Bond. "I already knew the basics, but they helped us out with passing and dribbling."

Challenger Sports Corporation is the largest provider of soccer camps in the United States and Canada. Challenger now runs over 1,800 British Soccer Camps for over 100,000 children.

MacGregor and Webb are two of over 700 coaches from the Challengers that are teaching camps all over the United States.

This week's camp was the third camp the duo has taught, they have also had camps in Utah and New Mexico and will teach a camp in Denver next week.

"This has been a great week for us," MacGregor said. "We’ve had a good turnout and The kids were just great this week, and we had a lot of fun with them.”