TRAPPER SOCCER TEAMS HOST CAMP

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

The Northwest College soccer teams welcomed local area youth to an August camp, allowing the recruits to interact with local players and help create new fans for the Trappers.

"It was awesome," coach Rob Hill said. "Our kids (players) love it too. They love the fun. Even though we're doing fun, kiddy games, they've actually asked if we can do some of those at the college (practices) so they love it. It's a really good thing for them to just be up close with the players and the older kids."

Hill added it was important for his players to watch the younger players and learn from them as well, as the college players could learn and understand the decision making of the younger players and apply it to their own playing style.

The biggest thing Hill hoped for from the camp was the kids enjoying it and telling their friends about it, while also coming to games in the future to help support those Trappers.

"I want them to come out and watch, bring their friends and tell their friends they had fun," Hill said. "It was great. We seem to see the same players come out all the time and the families are brilliant. And the level, wow. Some of the younger kids' level is amazing. Future Trappers right there."

He said some of the Trappers' international players interacted with the local youth, something Hill said is important to the program to find common ground.

"I hope they had fun with our internationals. It's fun for them to mix with our kids from other countries. But the common thing is that they play soccer," Hill said. "And I think our kids, they build relationships with them. They were high fiving them, cheering their goals. I just hope they came away going 'man, that was fun.' One kid asked if they could come tomorrow, so that told me they had a good time."

Hill hopes the kids will continue to be involved with the program, such as being a ball boy at games or being involved with the Trapper players at halftime, as a way to grow the fanbase.

"I just hope that they keep interacting with our players," Hill said. "Bringing them in to ball boy, we had some kids in the huddle last year and they love that. They love being part of that and then being part of the cheer. I think that's huge. Then us just recognizing them when our kids see them at games, saying hello to them, high fiving them, just letting them know that they're remembered and that they appreciate them being at the games and the support."

Beyond the youth camps hosted in the summer, Hill is looking to continue the community camps even into the winter, and expand the summer camps to grow the Trapper fanbase as well as the game of soccer as a whole in the area.

"We want to do more of this. I'd like to bring in kids for winter camp, bring them into Cabre, maybe do some five a side, get them involved in more ways than this," he said. "I think this is just a little bit of a start of a tradition. We had it last year, this year, I think now we'll start doing a little bit more and getting more community involvement which I think is really important."