Mark Fell and Danielle Brown are spending their summer touring Western Canada and teaching kids from British Columbia to Saskatchewan how to play the beautiful game, soccer. From Aug. 12-16 they were in Humboldt, teaching the basics of dribbling, passing and shooting to kids between seven and 15.
Fell, 20, and Brown, 19, are part of Challenger Sports' British Soccer Camps, which send over a thousand coaches to Canada and the U.S. every summer. This was Fells' second year in Canada and Brown's first. They were both positively gushing about the experience as they watched their students work through a dribbling drill.
"It's been great," Fell said. "This will probably be my last summer here because my work permit is only for two years but I'm hoping to move here once I finish school back home."
Home is Leeds, where Fell goes to school and moonlights as a soccer player in a local league on the weekends. He hopes to become a phys ed teacher. Compared to the soccer-as-life culture back home in England, Fell appreciates the more laid-back approach Canadians have for the sport.
"It's not quite as competitive over here," he said with a laugh. "People want to have fun with it a little more."
With that he was gone, back to running drills with the kids. Up next was Brown, a tiny bundle of energy from Glasgow, Scotland. This was her first summer in Canada but, like Fell, she loved what she'd seen, even if the drive from Calgary to Humboldt was a little long.
"Seven hours in a tiny Ford Focus and there were four of us," she said.
Brown will be entering her first year of university in the fall and wants to get involved in sport management. Like Fell, she's considering moving to Canada and said she would "definitely" be back for her second year with the program next summer.
Before taking a water break, the kids took turns taking shots while Fell was in goal. Brown would pass the ball and the kids would run at it with varying levels of coordination to take their best shot. Some blew their shots by Fell; others shot it right at him and others missed the net entirely. Regardless of the outcome, the feedback was positive.
"Good shot Preston!"
"Way to be mate, just a little off."
"Good strike, well done."
It's obvious that the kids are enjoying themselves, even if they think their new coaches talk a little funny. They all say they're having a good time and have learned a lot over the course of the week.
It's not just the kids that are benefiting, though. The coaches, all the way from the United Kingdom, have learned just as much as their pupils, if not more.
