Camp keeps soccer skills sharp during summer

Camille Ragsdale, middle, camp director and coach with Challengers Sports, runs a touring week-long soccer camp, visiting cities and drilling students on the fundamentals of soccer. She leads charges through a session of monkey-in-the middle, one of the drills keeping her students sharp.
Camille Ragsdale, middle, camp director and coach with Challengers Sports, runs a touring week-long soccer camp, visiting cities and drilling students on the fundamentals of soccer. She leads charges through a session of monkey-in-the middle, one of the drills keeping her students sharp.

TEXARKANA, Texas - In a week-long day camp taking place at Grady T. Wallace Soccer Complex in Liberty-Eylau, various gatherings of youngsters assembled to drill on the skills needed for the game of soccer. Camille Ragsdale, camp director and coach with Challengers Sports, the touring organization running the camps, considers this job the fulfillment of a lifelong dream.

"I started out as a cop in Utah," Ragsdale said. "That's as far as my professional life, but I've been involved in sports my entire life. Specifically, I've played this game. In my youth, I started out as a forward, but as I've gotten older, I tend to play defense more."

Currently, Ragsdale lives in New Orleans with her husband, who is attending medical school. But she has found a chance to bring her sports background to the fore and pursue once again a lifelong dream.

She now works for Challengers Sports, touring cities and running students through their week-long camp. This week, they have been in Texarkana. As she has led her charges through their moves and combining that with her experience, she realizes sports mean much more than the games.

"Playing soccer, I realize sports teach us far more than playing a game," she said. "You get life lessons from it. You learn how to act and interact with your fellow athletes. You learn diligence and perseverance. You learn how to cope with hardship and endure when things don't go the way you want. Team sports especially, you learn accountability, dependability and teamwork. And, you learn discipline."

Coming out of the pandemic, children have learned to appreciate the world outside and their friends more.

"After COVID, kids need to get with friends," she said. "They need that outlet."

And now, with this job, she is on a path to be a professional in the sports world she loves.

"This is my first love," she said. "Sports has always been there when nothing else is. These kids here spend a week doing this and meeting new friends they otherwise might not ever have met."

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