Our Girls at Berkshire Soccer Academy

In celebration of the launch of How To Coach Girls book, we are partnering with Berkshire Soccer Academy, a sleep away soccer camp for girls, with a five-part series.

March: The effect of Team Impact on the Boston College Women’s Soccer Team.

How To Coach Girls available here.

I let my kids do one week of extravagant camp each summer. My son has picked computer camp to learn Minecraft and mods in the past. My oldest daughter’s picks tend to be arty. PickyKidPix decided, during the summer of 2015, to go to camp to meet Mia Hamm. And she did it with her friend Sidnie, whose mom happens to be the co-author of How To Coach Girls.

Berkshire Soccer Academy hosts a week with Team First in which Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, & Tisha Venturini Hoch offer once-in-a-lifetime overnight soccer camp experience. They lead 8 on-field training sessions but they also talk to the group of girls, imparting inspirational messages of the importance of teamwork and putting your team before yourself as well as working hard to achieve your goals. These are lessons for both on and off the pitch.

“Go forth and have no fear. Come close and lend a ear.” Renegades by X Ambassadors

My daughter left camp with lots of logo’d apparel including a t-shirt signed by Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, & Tisha Venturini Hoch which we framed for her room. She also left with priceless memories of meeting idols that took the time to interact with her on the field. And that she could do it with one of her closest friends is something very special.

Now that my daughter has moved away from soccer into other sports and is now, as a high school sophomore, thinking about college, summer plans are of a different nature. It’s going to be a summer of college visits, pre-college programs, leadership opportunities, and experiences to build that college resume. It’s nice to look back on this time when summer was just about kicking a ball around with old friends and new, meeting heroes on the pitch, and how good the food was in the cafeteria.