Learning to play

Steve Virgen

Soccer is life for James Angelsea, Stephen Nicholson, Ben Penfold,

Mark Coulson and William Mawson. Their passion for the sport has

become a strong influence for the young soccer players at the AYSO

Region 120 camp this week. Their most important message: fun.

Angelsea, Penfold, Coulson and Mawson are from England, and

Nicholson is from Scotland. They are with the MLS Camps, and they are

serious about soccer. Yet, with the children at the Costa Mesa Farm

Fields, they have lowered the tone and increased the enjoyment.

“Soccer is life,” Mawson said of how the sport is thought of in

Newcastle. “Where I come from, it’s like a religion.”

Mawson, just as his four friends, are coaches and they said they

are enjoying their time with the young soccer players. Their love for

the sport and the belief that it produces a good time reflected in

their teaching Thursday.

“When you see kids start do things that you tell them, the

passing, the shooting, that really makes a big difference, and it

means a lot,” said Mawson, who worked with 4-7-year-olds. “I like to

think, in the future, that some of these kids will play for the

national team, and I could say, I did that.”

For 11-year-old Tyler Andrews, the time spent throughout the camp

has improved her athletic skills and her social skills.

“I’ve met a lot of new friends,” said Andrews, whose family is

housing Nicholson during the week. “I’ve learned a lot more about

shooting and a lot more about other people. And, I’ve improved on my

running.”

Part of the fun at the camp will include a joke being played on

Nicholson and the other coaches. Today is dress-up-the-coach day, and

Nicholson’s group has just two boys and 14 girls.

“I’m going to look silly,” Nicholson said smiling. “That’s OK,

this is so much fun.”

The camp consists of two sessions a day, and during each session,

there is a break, a joke break. That’s when the children sit together

and tell jokes to one another. If someone says a bad joke, that

person is sent to the field of doom, where they must dribble a ball

back to the group, some 50 yards away in less than 10 seconds.

Aside from the joking, the young soccer players, have been

instructed in dribbling, passing and shooting, and today they will

combine all the skills in scrimmage games.

When the camp is over, there will be a graduation at the Rose Bowl

before the L.A. Galaxy game Saturday. The AYSO Region 120 campers

will meet Galaxy players and they will be introduced to the crowd,

while the graduates jog around the field.

For other soccer fans who would like to meet Galaxy players, the

team will have a soccer clinic Aug. 27. The Galaxy players will be at

Kaiser Elementary at 5:30 p.m., for a half soccer clinic and half

autograph session. The cost is $30 and it includes two tickets to

Newport night on Sept. 14 at the Rose Bowl, where the Galaxy take on

San Jose, which features Landon Donavan.

For more information call Tony Anish, (949) 645-4344.