UC Merced coaches' young soccer players during summer camp

MERCED, Calif. (KFSN) -- Molding aboriginal shot stars.

"I've learned however to Control the ball," said 1 shot player.

"You tin usage your wrong of your ft the extracurricular of your ft oregon the laces," said different young kid.

A 100 kids ranging from 4 to 12-years-old gathered astatine a UC Merced connected Tuesday.

They're taking portion successful a four-day campy that gives a leap commencement connected reaching aboriginal goals arsenic young athletes.

"Look astatine each the smiles astir present and becomes infectious and I deliberation 1 kid having a bully clip leads to 2 much kids coming retired and wanting to person a bully time," said UC Merced Soccer Coach Albert Martins.

It's a afloat ellipse infinitesimal for 1 UC Merced student.

"I utilized to beryllium 1 of the players playing here, yeah, with Coach Albert," said Alondra Higareda.

She is from Merced and went to the summertime shot campy erstwhile she was a small girl.

She said she was inspired to enactment her mode up to the assemblage level, playing for the Bobcats.

"You guys having a batch of fun? You guys acceptable to spell backmost retired determination and enactment hard again?" asked Higareda.

Not lone is she coaching the kids during astatine this summertime camp, but she besides is progressive successful her community, reading, and mentoring simple schoolhouse students.

For the parents helping the small ones enactment hydrated, they accidental connecting their kids with relation models portion learning caller skills is simply a "win - win."

"When you're a kid and you spot assemblage pupil athletes, they're similar an idol, and you conscionable clasp them to specified a precocious standard," said 1 mother.

Martins said the campy has been specified a success, they volition big different radical of young shot players successful July.

Click here to motion up for the adjacent camp.

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