Anyone know anything about the quality of the summer camps Rangers FC's US academy conducts with local clubs? Considering sending my 11-year-old son to one in a nearby town this summer (it's been held there the past two or three years, at least) but I haven't found any reviews online about the quality of the coaching, what the kids get out of it, ... Sent him to a non-residential camp at a Big Ten University that has a soccer program last summer and came away very disappointed _ wide range of ages together, really low-level instruction, ... He was bored. Any help appreciated.
I'd add that any feedback on the idea of ID camps, which this is billed as, is welcome. I know little about this stuff but I'm a little leery of anything being sold to parents as a path to pro or college soccer. I may be a bit jaded there.
I have no experience with the Rangers camps. My gu11 daughter has attended a few camps and I can't say that any of them have been really "impressive". But she enjoyed them. I like her seeing other coaching styles. And I like her playing with / against kids that aren't on her team. But has she ever come out of a camp and been a noticeably different /better play? Not that I can tell. Baby steps toward development.
Thanks. Leaning toward sending him with that in mind -- different coaches, players, ... The camp appears to promise that at least the players will be tightly divided by ages so at least it won't be everyone between 8 and 13 or 14 lumped together (that was the Big Ten school's camp -- didn't mind him playing with the older kids, but the younger ones were so young that it did him no good).
I feel that my gu11 daughter turned a bit of a corner this summer with a camp. Not because of the camp itself. But because it was a camp that none of her teammates or close friends were attending. Some acquaintances were going. I asked her if she wanted to go. And she didn't hesitate to say "yes". She's the kind of kid that won't do much of anything unless some of her really good friends do it.
Is it one of the Rangers camps that is run by GIS? https://gis.mycustomevent.com/ShoppingCart.aspx?com=productlist&cid=366&srch=t If so, there is a discussion a little further down in this forum -- about the West Ham camp that is run by GIS.
Was going to reply about our experience with the West Ham camp, but Captain D was right to just link the thread. Lots of good impressions there.
Appreciate the responses and feedback. If we go ahead and sign him up I'll come back and give my impressions of the camp. I suspect we will, but there's a lot of pressure to look at residential camps at places like Indiana (we're just a few hours away) that some of his teammates seem to be headed to. That one, though it may be cream of the crop, is a little beyond what we want to spend on an 11-year-old. I always swore we'd stay out of the arms race to keep up with everyone else in kids' sports and pursue ever-greater options for training, but that's easier said than done when your child's friends and their parents are all in.
As long as your child is all-in, you're doing it for the right reasons. It's only when it stops being what the kids want, and truly becomes about keeping up with other parents at the expense of the kids' enjoyment, that it becomes the wrong thing.
This thread has sparked my interest in residential options. We live in Southern California. UCLA has a girls 9-13 camp this summer. I asked my daughter about it and her eyes lit up. I have zero expectation that she will be playing college soccer, but I have seen her competitiveness start to rise lately. She didn't even ask which of her friends would join her. I think the opportunity to stay in a dorm room and be able to interact with college players and coaches has her excited. I have a friend that played for UCLA 4 years ago and she said it is an amazing camp. When she played there, she was a counselor/coach. Our kids usually do a few summer camps anyway (never overnight) - surf camp, art camp, local soccer camp, etc. So this would just be a replacement of one of those other options.
RE the last comment from NCSoccerdad, the hard part is likely to come when the other kids on his team are all headed off to the more-expensive and involved options. I suspect our son will feel like he's on the outside looking in. I feel for him. But the birth-year change will reset his team this summer, anyway. More than half will move up to u13 while he and a handful of teammates will go to U12. Either way, we still want to wait another year before we commit to a residential camp. He's serious enough about his soccer and enjoys it, but maybe not quite old enough. And the Rangers option at least appears to hold that promise of different coaches, different approach, ... His eyes lit up a bit when I mentioned a camp run by a pro team he's heard of.
My kids attended the Rangers Camp last Summer. Good experience with coach to player ratio, instruction. Quick paced drills which required focus. Grouped appropriately based on age. All my kids were picked to attend the national camp in Georgia - decided not to attend due to cost/location. One of my kids I thought would get picked based on skills, soccer knowledge. When all three were picked realized it was strictly a money maker for them (that being said not all are picked for national camp so maybe I am not seeing something in my other children that others do). For the cost and level of skills taught well worth it
My son went to a ManU camp and I can tell you that they had some decent training, but it was *not* really run by anyone significantly involved in ManU. Basically, it has their branding (we got some gear with ManU on it), and some quality advice from a good coach (although he wasn't a long-term employee of ManU). I think it's fine, but it's certainly not for ID'ing players.