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Mostly Cloudy Passing on their passion
Most athletes say they play for the love of the game.
So maybe that’s why 36 young soccer players from the village are giving back to the game they love by teaching the basics to the younger generation of soccer stars at a summer skills clinic run by the Rockville Centre Soccer Club.
The free program — Kids Teaching Kids — paired teenage and young adult athletes with 4- to 8-year-olds in a two-week soccer training camp hosted at the Skelos Sports Complex from July 20 to July 30.
The 8-day camp teaches the fundamentals of the game to young players, from dribbling and passing to trapping and juggling the ball. Many of the 36 instructors either participated in the program as a child or were village soccer club members. More than 250 kids signed up for this year’s camp, which has been running since 1983.
Michael Mara, 22, has been the director for the last two years, and was supported this year by his former teammate Michael Tighe, also 22. They both signed on not only because they love soccer, but also like helping the up-and-coming generation of soccer players. “It’s a nice way to give back to the community,” Mara said. “It feels good to teach them the basics of the game.”
Both Mara and Tighe added that they stress one main objective to the kids and coaches: have fun. “That’s the most important thing,” they said.
