Eagles use June camp to ramp up intensity for upcoming season

by Michael Smith



The month of June is an important one for the Grain Valley boys soccer team.

Every year, head coach Brett Lewis hosts a soccer camp in late July for children 14-under, the girls soccer team, and the boys.

Since their season doesn’t start until March of next year, the girls camp is more about bonding with one another and having fun for a week.

For the boys, the camp serves a different purpose. Since their season begins in August, Lewis uses his late-June camp more like an offseason training camp or a regular practice session.

It’s a time which is used for the coaching staff to evaluate the players, get an idea of what position they could play during the regular season, and to go over plays and formations.

“There is a higher intensity level for the boys camp for sure,” Lewis said. “We start thinking about rosters and positions. We focus a lot on the technical skills, too.”

“The girls camp is a little more lighthearted. A lot of them are coming off playing for their club teams in national tournaments. They come in pretty tired.”
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Added junior David Roberson: “We mainly want to see everyone get out their aggression.”

Some of the activities the boys participate include full 11 vs. 11 scrimmages, ball handling and shooting drills, and the World Cup.

The latter is an internal tournament in which the entire soccer team broken off into squads of five players each and play against each other in a 7-minute long game where the goals are set up on each sideline instead of the full length of the field. Each squad picks a country to represent.

The team that wins the tournament gets Lamar’s Donuts. Senior Campbell Chiders and Roberson were on the team that won.

“There were five teams and it was double elimination,” Childers said. “We didn’t play too bad. We did well enough to win.”

While the World Cup Tournament is meant to serve as friendly competition, it also is good for evaluating players’ skillsets.

“Our goalies get to face a ton of shots during the World Cup,” Lewis said. “It’s hard for players to hide in a 5 vs. 5 or 6 vs. 6 game, so you have to bring you’re A game and you bring a higher intensity. We get to see players in a lot of 1 vs. 1 situations and see everyone in offensive situations.”

Like the girls, it also gives the players a chance to bond before the season begins. It gives the upperclassmen a chance to get the know the incoming freshman, which proves beneficial in preparing for the upcoming season. There were about eight freshmen that attended.

“We usually don’t know them so it’s a good chance to get to know them,” Roberson said.
It should be easier for the Eagles to build chemistry than a lot of teams as they return most of their players from the 2022 varsity team. But it will be difficult for Lewis to replace two players who were the leaders and heart in soul of the team as Owen White and Austin Schmidt graduated in May.

“We are looking to some junior varsity players to step up and fill those roles,” Lewis said. “There are going to be some opportunities for them.”

It should help the Eagles’ cause that the majority of last year’s team is returning.

“Our whole back line is the same as last year and our goalie is back and two of our midfielders are back and one forward. We are more of an older squad. Our senior class is pretty big.”

Because of all the experienced players coming back for another season, the Eagles are looking to do something that it hasn’t done in since 2019.
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“We want to win districts,” Childers said. “I think we can put together a solid season.”

Junior David Roberson, left, and senior Campbell Childers were a part of the winning team during Grain Valley's 5 vs. 5 intersquad World Cup Tournament at the boys soccer camp on June 29. Photo credit: Michael Smith