By Gary Curreri

Pompano Beach’s Maddie Cooper got a chance to kick start her travel soccer season along with about a dozen others as they took part in the Simply Soccer Four Fields Complex at Pompano Community Park recently.

Cooper, 11, and her two brothers, Jacob, 11, and Ryan, 7, spent the week refining their old soccer skills and learning new ones as part of the annual camp. The camp marked the seventh year that the city of Pompano has hosted the Simply Soccer camp for boys and girls ages 5-14, of all skill levels.

“This was a lot of fun,” said Cooper, who along with her twin brother, Jacob, play soccer for the Team Boca travel soccer club. “We learned some skills, scrimmaged and got to go the pool. I like coming to the camp.”

The day consisted of a group warm-up with all campers before they broke into groups based on age and skill levels. The first part of the day was learning a skill (dribbling, passing, receiving, heading/chipping, shooting) and then playing games or activities utilizing that particular skill.

After a short break for lunch and some time at the swimming pool, the campers were right back out for end-of-the day scrimmages.

“Friday is our World Cup tournament where we break the entire camp up into small teams (5v5) and play during the morning,” said Simply Soccer coach Jim Cappello. “At the end of the day, we gave players their evaluations and certificates. We try and make it as fun as possible so they learn and want to keep playing the sport.”