Slocum Summer School Caps Week-long Session at CCHS

Nearly 200 girls, ranging from third graders to high school seniors, were kicking, throwing and performing all sorts of fun soccer exercises under the perfect blue sky at Concord-Carlisle High School Friday afternoon for the final day of the week-long Slocum Soccer School.

The Slocum Soccer School, in its 12th year, was founded by Nancy Slocum, a 12-year coach for the CCHS girls' varsity soccer team. Slocum has been coaching for 25 years and she played for the Boston Renegades and was an Academic All-American for the University of North Carolina, where she helped the Tar Heels win two NCAA National Championships.

The all-day camp began on Monday and was in its final day on Friday, which many campers agreed was their favorite.

"Friday is the best day because we use skills we've been learning the whole week," said sixth-grade camper Gilli Grunfeld. "We also get to eat cake."

Posie Holmes, a camper turned counselor who plays for Slocum on C-C's varsity soccer team, said that the cake is pretty delicious. She also said that it's great to see the players' progress throughout the week.

"I like all the games (we play)," CCHS sophomore Michaela Haller said. "(The camp) is not high-stress."

Holmes agreed.

As an avid soccer player, Holmes said that she's attended soccer camps throughout her life and what she finds wonderful and unique about Slocum Soccer School is that the coaches "emphasize to play (soccer) because we like it, not just to play it. Everyone genially loves to play soccer."    

The girls are coached by a staff of 24 – 22 females, two males – all high school and college-aged.

Slocum said that the head coaches are experienced and the assistant coaches are high school and college athletes.

Christine Taggart, one of the head coaches, Slocum said, was a CCHS player in the 1980s and was an All-American at UMass Amherst.

Molly Skinner was a leading scorer in 2005 for Boston College and was an MVP at Acton-Boxborough.

Other coaches are athletes at Trinity College, Hobart and William Smith College, Boston University, Wesleyan University and Wellesley College, among others.

Slocum said that she likes to have a mainly female coaching staff as it is "valuable (for the players) to see (females) who (they) can aspire to be."

The campers played a different curriculum every day, Slocum said, although their daily schedule was similar.

The campers checked in at 9 a.m., were given a quiz question about women's soccer with an awarded prize, such as a water bottle, and had an all-camp warm-up, a stretching game until 9:25 a.m.

Then they moved on to foot skills for 20 minutes, then specialized goalkeeper training for the upper grades for 45 minutes, followed by fun, competitive games and drills.

They would take a water and snack break, have a shooting and finishing session, and then a tactical session with staff demonstrations for the lower grades until 1:30 p.m. Then they would play small-sided games from 1:30 until 2:15 p.m., take another break, play final big game tournaments, 11 vs. 11, 8 vs. 8, or 6 vs. 6 for about 40 minutes, and end the days with a closing discussion, another quiz question, and a camper of the day.

Certificates were awarded for campers of the day, of the week and of tournaments for players who exemplified "hard work and great attitudes," Slocum said.

"It's an opportunity to be recognized when they have a positive impact on their group or lead by example," Slocum said. "They work on passing, trapping, shooting, finishing, figuring out how to get the ball in the net, chipping, heading, we cover all aspects of games."

Slocum said that coaching is important, but she likes when the game itself becomes the teacher.

"It's a lot of work for 180 kids," Slocum said of running the camp.

She sends out brochures in December and January, has early-bird sign-ups in February, and prepares in April.

But Slocum's hard work and dedication is worth it to her.

"I get feedback from parents who say, 'We plan our summers around your camp,'" she said.

"I loved the games as a camper," Holmes said. "I remember playing with kids older and younger. I watched the older kids play and feel like the man (playing with them)."

Holmes and Haller both expressed their love for world cup, a game in which there's one goalie in one goal, with three teams of 10. The coaches throw the ball on the field and it's a free-for-all. If one team scores, they're safe. Every time one team scores, another is eliminated. It gets down to two teams playing for the world cup.

Maggie D'Eramo, a seventh-grade camper, said that she loves coming to Slocum Soccer School especially to work with Slocum.

"I like getting to know [Slocum] because I want to play with her when I get to high school," D'Eramo said.

"A lot of local kids come here," Holmes said. "Slocum is custom."

Holmes continued saying that Coach Slocum will receive numerous emails of interest where girls inform Slocum of what town they're from and who they're friends with and who they want to play with, and Slocum be up until two in the morning picking players and making sure they're all set to have a great experience.

"I'll see an email from Slocum at 2 a.m. and I'll tell her to get some sleep," Holmes said laughing.