Common Goals : Thousand Oaks Soccer Camp Recruits World Cup Player to Help Build Youngsters’ Dreams, Teach Lessons in Life
On warm summer evenings nearly a decade ago, Eric Wynalda and his friends from Westlake High School used to grab their cleats and a soccer ball and head for the giant playing fields at Cal Lutheran University.
There were no soccer camps at Cal Lutheran then, no coaches drilling shots on goal or passing plays. There was only a wide expanse of vacant turf.
But in the years since, the block of short-cropped grass across the street from the Thousand Oaks university has become a classroom of sorts, where the leaders of a program called Soccer Direct teach youngsters self-esteem, perseverance, teamwork, and--thanks to the World Cup--even geography.
It has also become a field of dreams for hundreds of young soccer players who fantasize about becoming future Eric Wynaldas: members of the U.S. national team.
“I wish this had been around when I was a kid,†Wynalda said Thursday during a visit to the Soccer Direct camp. “This is where it really all starts.â€
Each summer, about 1,900 youngsters, mostly from Ventura County, storm the Cal Lutheran field to participate in Soccer Direct’s day and residential camps, which cost from $85 to $395 depending on the program.
Brothers Dan and George Kuntz started Soccer Direct 16 years ago in Arizona, but for the last six years the summer program has been based in Thousand Oaks.
“Soccer teaches you life lessons,†said George Kuntz, the program’s co-director and women’s soccer coach at Pepperdine University in Malibu. “It teaches you how to work together toward common goals, how to solve problems, how to set and achieve small goals for yourself.â€
Kuntz, who has been friends with Wynalda and his family for many years, invited the soccer star to speak to a group of 30 girls and boys attending a special shooting and goal-keeping camp this week.
“You have to set goals for yourself,†the 25-year-old Wynalda told the star-struck players, many of whom were clutching balls and pens, hoping for an autograph.
“When I was 15, I said I wanted to be on the national team,†Wynalda told them. “I was cut from every district team until I was 18 years old.â€
His lesson did not land of deaf ears.
“I’ve learned that you can’t get down on yourself,†said 11-year-old Karina Siam of Northridge. “You just have to keep shooting and shooting.â€
Stretching her long legs before a late-morning session, 12-year-old Kendra Shaner of Camarillo said she has learned more in two days at Soccer Direct than she had at any other sports camp.
“It’s like I just learned the game,†said the blond goalkeeper, who has been in league play for two years.
For Todd Hammerslag, who will be a freshman at Westlake High School in the fall, the highlight of the program was playing soccer with a barefoot Wynalda.
“It was awesome, playing with him and stuff,†said Todd, 13. “I want to play on the national team.â€
With the World Cup played on American soil for the first time, the Kuntz brothers put a new spin on their program this year.
At night, the children staying in Cal Lutheran dorms as part of the residential camp watch footage of World Cup games. During practices the kids are divided into mock teams, playing Brazil or Sweden in their own international tournaments.
“Hopefully, what we will bring to children in our camps, and are beginning to see more of, is an awareness of world cultures,†said Dan Kuntz, the program’s other director and the men’s and women’s soccer coach at Cal Lutheran.
Parent Stephanie Brazell, who has four children enrolled in various Soccer Direct camps this summer, said the World Cup has heightened her children’s interest in distant places.
“It’s actually a good geography lesson,†said the Thousand Oaks resident. “You always need a good motivation to learn, and what better motivation than the World Cup?â€
Twelve-year-old Casey Schmidt has never needed any motivation. An avid soccer player since the age of 4, Casey fell in love with the Cameroon team long before the Africans landed in Oxnard for pre-tournament training this spring.
“My friends at school, they say, ‘Why Cameroon?’ †Casey said. “I really like their freewheeling style of play.â€
Casey’s father, Jim Schmidt, a professor at Cal Lutheran, added: “You can ask him about any team in the World Cup and he’ll give you the capital of that country.â€
But Dan Kuntz said youngsters learn more from the game than simply where the players come from. “There’s no better language than the soccer ball,†he said. “It transcends all cultures.â€
