On July 9th, Liverpool FC America packed up 78 of our U-11 players and headed up I-75 to the Collin County YMCA Adventure Camp in Anna, Texas for what was to be a new club tradition called Camp Kop. Camp Kop was three days of unbelievable fun, great adventures and enthusiastic learning about the traditions and heritage that beats within the heart of Liverpool!
Players arrived early on Monday morning to check into their open, modern air-conditioned cabins identified with the names of local native plants of the area like “Dogtooth” and “Goldenrod.” Met there by eagerly awaiting chaperones, these campers retired their gear to their bunks, started to settle in and gave hugs goodbye as moms and dads left and headed back to the busy schedules of the metro area. While the Collin County YMCA Adventure Camp may only be 20 minutes NE of McKinney the camp has the feeling of being a million miles from anywhere.
The camp orientation in the Education Building starts off the incredible three-day schedule and is followed quickly by the first “Opening Games” session conducted by the camp and YMCA staff. Energized and feeling like having some fun, the kids join in eagerly and quickly begin to make new friends, strengthen their team bonds and perhaps beginning, for the first time, to recognize that Camp Kop may be about more than just ‘soccer.’
At Camp Kop, players experienced a variety of fun activities spread across the more than 100 acres of camp property. They spent time on the lake in canoes playing “duct tape tag” and “chasing the inflatables for points.” They also went fishing for some of the peskiest little perch you ever want to meet. The lake module was quickly a camp favorite…. But so were Team Building, Core Conditioning and an amazing “Challenge Course.” The time spent with cabins walking to and from the activities were fun in and of themselves as they became filled with cheers, chants, songs and even challenges amongst teammates. Delighting everyone daily was the camp dining experience, where the food was wonderful, plentiful and always delivered to the players with smiles and cheerful greetings.
One of the key factors of the success of Camp Kop rested on the shoulders of our amazing chaperones. These courageous, dedicated, talented individuals jumped into the “great unknown” when they decided to accompany us to Camp Kop. Many of them worked with and guided young players they had never met, but the delivered wonderfully in their “guidance” and “oversight” capacities. These men and women volunteered to be with the cabins of players day and night, to attend to everything from bugs, bad dreams, sweaty socks, touches of sunburn, thirst or hunger whenever it appeared and always managed even in the most unlikely situations to share their humor, good nature and great decision making abilities with all of these players. We could not have done it without them, and in this inaugural event, this article would be remiss if we did not thank each of them for all that they did to make Camp Kop a success.
Learning about the history of Liverpool FC America, understanding what it means when we say “character, quality, and tradition” and knowing what it means you see the words “you’ll never walk alone” were a very important part of Camp Kop. Each meal was dotted with history, tradition and heritage. The players began to look at the name on their shirts in a different way, and walked a bit prouder understanding what they were now a part of.
Following S’mores, camp songs, camp skits and much more fun, the final night was wrapped up with a candle lighting ceremony honoring the “flame” symbolically capturing the Liverpool spirit that lives within us all. That spirit is in the way we act, the things we say, how we carry ourselves and the message we give others about ourselves, our teammates, our families and the pride we feel about Liverpool. Honoring the flame on the jersey also meant learning about the Hillsborough disaster that took the lives of 96 Liverpool fans. They learned that the flames were added to the uniform to always remember those lives and remember that wherever we are, we all represent each other and carry that flame inside ourselves.
Camp Kop 2012 was the start of a great tradition and it now serves as a gateway into the culture, pride and heritage that is Liverpool FC America. Songs, chants and camp cheers all reinforce team and cabin spirit, the pride of Liverpool and the spirit that lives at Camp Kop. On the final day, as we listened to the players sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” we knew that Camp Kop had successfully shared what it means to be Liverpool with our newest competitive athletes. They understood they were a part of something bigger and very special, and we hope that they will always remember three fun days where they learned about Liverpool, about their team and about themselves.
