MLS club teams up with PAYSA for weeklong skills development camp

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After hearing that, Cantin continued that he then sent an email to the Whitecaps, to which they gave an enthusiastic response. 

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“They said right away, ‘Yeah, we’d love to’, you know, ‘We don’t have anything going on out in that area’. And so surprisingly, the ball started rolling pretty quickly and before I knew it, a few Zoom calls and some phone meetings later, and we were able to set this camp up.” 

The camp was held from Aug. 10-14 at the Alfred Jenkins Fieldhouse with sessions being split into groups depending on age, where boys and girls from U7-U11 practiced in the morning while the U12-U16’s went in the afternoon.  

Each day was set up so the players were practicing a different skill on a different day, which included positive passing, dynamic dibbling, finishing, and one-on-one defence, with the last day being a fun World Cup style tournament where the kids could put their newfound skills to the test. 

The U7-U11 group. (Image Credit: Prince Albert Youth Soccer Association/submitted)

Prince Albert was the only Saskatchewan stop for the Whitecaps camp, and Cantin said he was surprised how many people from outside the city attended despite the short amount of time to get the word out. 

“Because of the late time that we were able to start advertising, I wasn’t really sure what our numbers would be like or if we’d be able to reach anybody outside of Prince Albert. Surprisingly, it worked out and next year and all the years to come as we keep doing this, we’ll be able to advertise and hopefully get a lot more Prince Albert people, but also some outside area people.” 

He continued that he was “pleasantly surprised to see what the final total was in the end” as nearly 90 kids attended the camp this year, with a handful coming from Saskatoon and beyond. He added that it was nice to have a camp of this magnitude in Prince Albert, rather than having players travel to other communities for similar opportunities, which is usually the norm. 

As mentioned, a skilled soccer coach within the Whitecaps organization was in town to help run the camp, that being Martin Brain. He is the head coach for the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Academy Centre and was the main instructor of the drills, as the Whitecaps also hired a handful of local coaches to help out over the course of the week.  

No players were along for the ride to Prince Albert as at the time the camp was being held, the Whitecaps were competing in the Leagues Cup tournament, which is an annual soccer competition between clubs from Major League Soccer (MLS) and Liga MX, the main soccer league in Mexico. 

The tournament is still going on, however Vancouver was eliminated from playoff contention following the round robin. Within the MLS, the Whitecaps placed last with three losses, including two in regulation and one in a shootout, with a league worst -3 goal differential. 

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com