Paul Austin's Soccer Camp Develops Players and Personalities

For the last couple weeks, Lynch Field has been the testing ground for young soccer players aged 11-13 from Winchester and all its surrounding towns.

At the helm, Officer Paul Austin, a dedicated Winchester cop and co-ed soccer coach who, for the past two weeks, has been helping players from 11 on up with their soccer skills every Monday through Friday from 6-7:45 p.m.

Austin is also the coach of the Winchester Boys Varsity Team and with more than 20 years experience coaching, Austin's camp is once again helping young players develop not only their sport, but their personalities as gamesmen and upstanding citizens as well.

"It's a camp that I started because its expensive to get training, so I tried to create something that's economical for the kids, and obviously soccer is a passion for me," Austin said. "I run them hard, but it's one of those things that you get a lot out of; once they get a lot out of it, they want to come back and it improves their game."

The atmosphere Austin talks of is evident in his players. They train hard from an early age and later prove to be valuable pieces to their high school and other teams.

"It's so important to have a foundation," stresses Austin as he talks details about the camp. "We try and implement drills that will be useful in the game. Kids go to these camps where they learn a hundred drills, but can't use any of them in the game because they don't know where to apply them. I try and teach them fundamentals they can use in their games."

Wilmington resident and mother of one of Austin's students, Lori Kane, loves the affordability of the camp.

"You send them to these camps and it's a lot of money and maybe they don't get a lot out of it," Kane said. "The attention they are getting [with Austin] is great. They need to be taught some of the basics and Austin does that."

Austin later mentioned his general ideals when trying to reach the kids and instill his love of the game in them.

"Everything with this game is balance," Austin said. "That's what we work very hard on. We use economical training, a few touches in a row, and stuff they can practice later on, on their own. I keep explaining to them how important to it is to get their balance, not just for themselves, but things like where to go on the field, what to do in any given moment. We progress as the nights go on. I guarantee when they are done with me, people will know the difference."

Assistant Coach, Gabbi Galvin, one of Austin's high school students, is helping out with the young stars before the high school camp starts up.

"We work on the basic skills, the foundations of soccer like, balance, trapping, the way you can move with the ball," Galvin said.

Austin talked about all the great feedback he's gotten from his camp and years of coaching when he said, "I was out the other night and had a father of a former player come up to me. The player is much older now, high school I think, and the father came up to me and said 'you changed my son's life.' It's that kind of thing that gets me so involved and keeps me doing this."

Austin focuses on soccer skills, but pushes his players to be better off the field as well as on.

"It's about teamwork, it's about technique, it's about learning," Austin said. "And these skills are expressed on the field you know, but I also stress for them to be good people off the pitch as well. We thrive on a good experience that lasts a lifetime, what they learn here they can apply to other aspects of their life."

The high school co-ed camp, which boasts more than 110 kids, starts August 9^th. Kids are still welcome to join.

To learn more about the program, please visit www.winchestersoccer.org.