The Soccer Academy

Our residential camp was founded in 1973 at the Ojai Valley School by Alan Meeder and Steve Gay. Alan became the successful Head Coach of the men's team at UC Santa Barbara. In four years he was twice Southern California College Coach of the Year. Steve was a College All-American, U S Olympic Team player, Head Coach of UCLA, and a USSF National Staff Coach. After two years, a move was made to Santa Barbara at Westmont College. Our new home is Cal State University Channel Islands in Camarillo. From the beginning, The Academy has offered a unique program of instruction that develops each camper's skills and tactical awareness. Players are grouped by age and ability into teams that are under the supervision of our professional staff of college coaches and professional players. Besides the twice a day technical training, campers also participate in scrimmages each evening to integrate their newly learned skills into real game situations. There are also penalty kick competitions, Soccer Olympics, Super Soccer, and the Styro Cup Challenge. At the end of the week, each camper sits down with their coach and receives a full written evaluation to help prepare for the new season. No other camp has developed such a complete program or can match over 30years of excellence.

Facilities

Our new home is Cal State University Channel Islands. CSUCI is a new school with just over 2,000 students giving the campus a park like setting. The beautiful campus is located on 600 acres in the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains near Camarillo. This location provides beauty and security. All of the facilities were built within the last few years and offer the most modern features. Best of all the campus is only three miles from the coast so it stays cool on the warmest days.

Nutrition is a vital part of each camper's ability to train and compete and the Islands Café is one the best in California. The dining hall provides outstanding food for the campers and coaches. There are a wide variety of choices at each meal, including vegetarian selections. Boarding campers get three meals and evening snack each day.

Training is held at the Potrero Field on campus. This complex features space equal to four full size soccer fields. The camp's exclusive use of these fields insures that they are in magnificent condition. Even our professional players on the staff, who expect perfect playing surfaces, appreciate the chance to work on such well-kept fields. Games are also held in the New Arroyo Hall gym next door to the dorms. Playing with tennis shoes and with the smaller indoor ball, campers get the challenge of playing a quicker game with restricted space. The indoor game also encourages tactical creativity where you can really make a "wall pass."

The Santa Cruz dorms at CSUCI were built in 2008. They are amazing. Campers are housed two per room in two bedroom suites that include a living room and bathroom with showers. The dorms on campus also include their own swimming pool so campers can take a quick dip after training sessions and in the evening. There are two commons areas. One is a lounge with two flat screen TVs, the other has the latest in exercise equipment. There is also a game room with pool tables, foosball, air hockey, and shuffle board. If that weren't enough, two smaller rooms have Wii and Xbox games with flat screens!

The above chart is for boarding campers. All sessions are open to day campers who attend all six days. Day campers arrive at 9 AM and leave around 8 PM each day. Lunch and dinner are included. Tuition for all day campers is $295.00.

Have you enrolled and can't find your confirmation letter?

Click on the link to get a PDF version of the confirmation letter that included a map, check-in time and clothing list. [Confirmation Letter]