Franklinton’s Youth Soccer Fields were the site this week for a British Soccer Camp, which allowed the participants to work and improve on their skills.

Sixty participants attended the clinic.

“It’s the third annual camp we’ve had here in Franklinton,” camp coordinator Rob Crain said Wednesday. “The kids have all had a great time. The coaches have enjoyed their time here. The kids have been learning a lot.”

The clinic featured two sessions each day. The younger campers were there in the morning session and the older campers attended in the evening.

“They’re learning individual skills through fun games to play and they do what they call World Cup where they do some short-sided scrimmage games (four to five players per team),” Crain said.

In the “World Cup” games, each team is the name of a country.

“They kind of give them some homework where they go and look up an interesting fact or three interesting facts about each country,” crain said. “They’ll have to maybe look up a soccer player from that country.”

Crain said they were also doing a competition where they had to make a flag of a country.

“They learn about other soccer playing countries and maybe a little more than they know about the states,” he said.

Throughout the week, some of the skills the campers learned were dribbling, passing and shooting. Those skills were then implemented into the scrimmages.

The clinic was open to everybody and many of the participants are members of Franklinton’s Youth Soccer Association. The FYSA is holding registration over the next two Saturdays, July 23 and July 30, at the Franklinton Junior High School Library from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. on both days.

Crain said he’s seen a lot of improvement over the last couple of years since the camp has been there.

“We’ve got a great core group of young people,” he said. “This is the third annual time where we’ve had the camp. Some of these players that started as 8-year olds are now going into an 11-12 year old groups. You’ve really seen the level of competition pick up and their skill level has picked up a lot too.”

On Wednesday, the clinic held Wacky Wednesday, as a way to have fun.

“The kids just dress up in crazy clothes or paint their hair or wear a wig, just anything to have a little fun with it,” Crain said.