By Paul Doherty Sports Editor Morgan Hill – For about 70 local
youth, last week’s soccer camp at P.A. Walsh Elementary School’s
back field was much more than the average summer camp.
By Paul Doherty
Sports Editor
Morgan Hill – For about 70 local youth, last week’s soccer camp at P.A. Walsh Elementary School’s back field was much more than the average summer camp.
West Coast Coaching, based in Los Gatos, is headed by Bhavish Thakrar and seeks to share its philosophies of education, energy and enthusiasm through soccer.
With eight to 10 youth soccer camps throughout the South Bay each summer, and ongoing individual one-on-one clinics, West Coast Coaching is quickly becoming a summertime staple for those in the youth-soccer community.
With two kids, age 6 and 10, at the camp, parent Cheryl Carrender thinks it is a good summer opportunity for young soccer players.
“Coach Bav’s technique is unique, combining skills and fun … that’s why I chose this camp.” Carrender said.
At $125 dollars Carrender thought the week-long camp was reasonably priced for the level of involvement the kids have, she said.
“Coach Bav demands respect,” Carrender said. “It’s not glorified baby sitting, the kids really are learning and improving.”
Everyone knows Thakrar, 30, as Coach Bav.
He is a London, England transplant with experience coaching soccer players at the highest levels. He came to the California about five years ago with a goal to spread his knowledge and love of soccer.
“We talk a lot about roots and having respect for the rules, coaches, officials, opponents, their teammates and themselves,” Thakrar said. “And of course the key is that we can be fierce and friendly.”
With five other licensed soccer coaches, about a 12:1 player/coach ratio, Thakrar’s camp is as much about life lessons as it is soccer.
“Why can’t we just play really hard, and if you knock a player down, pick them up?” Thakrar asks. “Winning is really important, but at West Coach Coaching we teach that victory is more than winning … just the scoreboard alone is not a reflection of a winner.”
Thakrar believes that young soccer players can learn a lot from sports, and he teaches life issues at his camps.
“You see a lot of growth within just a simple week (of soccer camp),” Thakrar said. “And it’s about developing a passion for kids … not just for sports or just for soccer, but I’m a firm believer in soccer being a microcosm of society.”
The coaching staff teaches the campers to pick other players up, look out for each other, and the importance of being part of a team.
“Even if it’s just one thing we develop in one week, these are all kind of life lessons that we try to show them within the camp,” Thakrar said.
Character-building lessons aside, the kids are out to play some soccer.
Brothers Amarjot and Karmvir Thind, who play in the OVYSL for the Morgan Hill Pumas, attended the camp because they “just wanted to learn some more moves for the games.”
“We did a lot of fun shooting drills,” Karmvir said.
“I like the scrimmages the most, and the goalie-practice was really fun, too,” Amarjot said.
Both players said they would definitely sign up for next year’s camp.
Another important aspect of the camp is learning and applying the ELM Tree: effort, learning and mistakes.
“We want kids to work against themselves,” Thakrar said. “The ELM Tree is about putting in effort, having a willingness to learn the most, and also knowing that mistakes are a part of learning.”
On the last day of the camp, Thakrar reminded the campers about the ELM Tree, emphasizing that mistakes are OK.
Camp coach Michael Keohane, 20, is a junior at St. John’s University in New York, and a goalie for their soccer team.
Keohane spent his first year of high school at St. Francis HIgh School in Mountain View, before attending a soccer academy in Sarasota, Fla., where he also earned his coaching license.
“They had a theory where if the player saw the coaches viewpoint on certain parts of the game, then players would understand the game better,” Keohane said. “And in the process of that I got my D (coaching) license.”
Keohane started coaching at a few Olympic Development Program practices, and realized how rewarding teaching his passion could be.
“Being able to pass on the joy to the kids is most rewarding,” he said. “I’ve played since I was 7, and being able to teach them what I know and help them develop into good players is something you can’t trade for anything.”
West Coach Coaching also offers individual clinics at helping young players develop specific elements of their game.
“It’s a different aspect of development of the player,” Keohane said. “You can focus on what skills and what techniques you really need to enhance your game … players really learn about the specific position … it’s a specialist clinic.”
West Coach Coaching sells the individual clinics at $75 a session (an hour), with a minimum of four sessions.
“You need to know your role on the soccer field,” Thakrar said. “And when you get to work with athletes like Michael (Keohane) you are learning from the best.”
Orchard Valley Lightning boys under-14 team coach Becky Weirshauser is also a camp coach, and was proud of how well this year’s camp went.
“It was a big success,” Weirshauser said. “Last year it was all kid of last minute and we only had about 20 kids, but this year we were much more organized and we had about 70 campers.”
Next year they hope for, at least, 100 campers, she said.
Judging on how star struck the kids seemed to be as they left the camp on Friday, thanking and hugging the coaches, that goal should be easy to meet.
“We are so thankful for the OVYSL for allowing us to run this camp, and we hope to make it a two-week camp next year,” Thakrar said.
