What was the biggest difference that you noticed in your child after attending UK International Soccer camp(s)?

I'd say the biggest thing that my son Bailey Miller achieved from the multiple summers of doing UK Soccer camp was that he got better at his social skills, and his confidence got a lot better. His fitness was always pretty good, but he definitely got more help with his individual ball skills, his passing, his dribbling, and his shooting. When doing recreational soccer at the time, he definitely became more of a standout on our team as well as against opposing teams that we went against than he had before attending the camps. And again, I think it's really benefited him, doing 5 years of recreational soccer, 3 to 4 of those summers doing UK Soccer camps. To really put him in a position now where he's got more confidence, more skills, asking questions, being open-minded, asking for feedback, and I really think that's a big reason why he's in club soccer today.

What was your child's favorite part of UK International Soccer camps?

My favorite part of the camps that's kind of a tough one to narrow down. I would say 2 or 3 things that definitely stood out were when they did the World Cup soccer, getting to decide or getting to find out what national team you're playing on. Whether it was a World Cup year or not when he was in the camp, showing up to the camp, checking in, and automatically putting the kids in scrimmages. There was a benefit of showing up early, and in some cases, he could be scrimmaging 15 to 20 minutes before the actual camp started. Which was great, compared to other camps where you check in or you check in early and then you just wait around and try to entertain your child, or you drop off your child and you have to leave and then your kids are kind of sitting around bored doing nothing, until everybody else shows up and the camp starts. I thought that was great. And then basically just making friendships, some he still has today. Some from his elementary school, Salta Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, and some that he achieved through kids from other nearby schools and he has run into those kids, both that have been on his recreational soccer team or in other soccer camps or just in the community or club soccer today.

What are your thoughts on the coaching staff? How did they interact with your child and the rest of the group?

Yeah, my thoughts on the coaches were really good. I really liked how they matched female coaches with girls and male coaches with boys. Specifically for my daughter, who doesn't play soccer anymore and just decided to do a different sport, but when she did the UK Soccer camps, she loved it. She definitely kind of came out of her shell, was more open, was more physical, was more interactive. Having a female coach, per se, other than when I coached her, although as her dad, she was pretty interactive and pretty energetic, but maybe not the same result from playing for another male coach. So, definitely having that female-to-female, male-to-male interaction, as coaches, was great for my daughter as it was for my son.

Definitely liked the interaction with the kids; definitely liked the opportunity where it was kind of asking the kids questions instead of just being very authoritarian, directing the kids to do something without some interaction or, I guess, death by PowerPoint. The kids could have some input on, maybe some options the coach wanted to do. Or some things that kids wanted to do, or some things that kids wanted to do again. The coaches seemed very knowledgeable. The coaches seemed very prepared, very easy to understand. The equipment was nice. My kids still wear their jerseys today, even to school. The equipment and the soccer balls are great. The kids still use those today as well. The coaches seemed prepared, definitely seemed like a good lesson plan. There was a lot of interaction, there was a lot of variety, and really no complaints when it came to my kids as far as the coaching staff, their friendliness, their politeness, and just making it fun for the kids, cause again, it's a kids' soccer camp.

If you were talking to another soccer family considering registering, why would you recommend they join UK International Soccer?

Yeah, I'd say if I was talking to another soccer family, I definitely would recommend UK Soccer. I definitely recommended it to quite a few people in the past, including my then-and-now former recreational soccer players, even my not-so-engaged soccer players, and I definitely think that my team got better as the seasons went on, and as the years went on. And even my less skilled, less engaged soccer players continue to improve, both for my boys' team and my girls' team, both of which I coached from kindergarten up through 4th grade individually. I continue to promote the camp for people who want something that gets their kids outside and gets them off electronics. And, more importantly, gives them confidence because not every kid is a competitive soccer player.

I think that UK Soccer is kind of a good bridge between both, but some kids like the social scene, the social aspect of playing soccer with kids, playing soccer with friends. It's a good setting for the kids who want to polish up their skills and are playing competitively as well. And the one thing I like, too, is that it's in a nice setting. When we did it, we did it in the Homeowners Association green fields of Oak Hills in Beaverton, Oregon. The last thing that we really liked was the affordability. The UK Soccer camps include a jersey, a soccer ball, and a week of camp, either half day or full day is less than a couple $100; at least it was at the time. And when you compare that to other camps, some of these camps are, $500, 600 dollars, up to $1000 and, they're not, they're not nearby. They're on the other side of the city or they're in a different city. And that's tough for people to juggle, versus a camp like this, that's a couple $100 good instruction, good, good skills, good camp, good team building, etc.

What originally motivated your family to volunteer as a host?

We decided to host a UK soccer coach to give our kids an opportunity to learn about somebody from a different culture, a different country, and also to have the influence of their soccer experience. And just to have another person to be a part of our family for that period of time. The hesitations we had, we were just wondering how that might work in our family, where we would be able to have them sleep and stay and if they would incorporate into our meals.

What was that first 24 to 48 hours like when your coach arrived?

When our coaches first arrived, it was an opportunity just to kind of get to know them pretty quickly. And they both fit. We hosted two different coaches. They both fit into our family pretty quickly. We had a meal with them right away, got them situated with the room and the space that they were gonna stay in, and got to meet the whole family, including our dog, and just everything went pretty smoothly.

How did having a professional coach living in your home impact your child’s excitement for soccer and their personal confidence?

Having coaches stay in our home and live with us for a week or two really helped our kids with their confidence in soccer and interest in the sport. It was nice to have the coaches here. They would go out and play with the kids and kick around when they had extra time outside of their camps. And give them some extra skills and one-on-one attention, which was really great.

What was the most interesting or fun cultural difference?

It was fun to experience the different cultural differences with our coaches and our families. The biggest things that I noticed were their excitement about our different foods and what you get at the grocery store. That was one of our coaches' really big things was that he'd go to the grocery store and see things that we had that he didn't have back in England. And the availability of certain things. Another really funny thing was just learning different words for things that our kids always found interesting. They got to learn a lot about a different culture. It was great.

Is there a specific moment or memory (on or off the field) that really stands out as a highlight for your family?

There are so many great memories with our coaches when they were living with us. Some of the memories that stand out are when they would come to our kids' club soccer games, outside of the camp and show their support there and give them feedback afterwards, which I thought was really special and nice that they use their time to do that with our kids. But a lot of the things that I remember the most are just the daily experiences. They would walk down to the store with the kids and get a soda or an ice cream. And just being part of our family, having meals, and the day-to-day is really what stands out and is the biggest part of my memory.

For a family who is on the fence about hosting a coach, what would you tell them about the experience?

I can definitely understand some hesitation, and I know I had a little bit about not understanding what this might mean or how it would work out for our family. But I would say if you're on the fence, you should definitely do it. It's created lifetime connections for our family. We have a coach we hosted like 10 years ago. They're still in touch with us. They send Christmas cards. We send Christmas cards back and forth. They've come back to visit. We stayed in touch with the other one that we hosted a few years ago, and they're really a part of our family that we just never knew that we were missing until they are a part of it and here staying with us for a couple of weeks.

How would you describe the relationship your family has with the coach, and with the club, now that the program has ended?

We hosted one coach about 10 years ago, and we stayed in contact with him. He's come back and visited us multiple times. He checks in periodically throughout the year, says Merry Christmas, and wishes us happy holidays regularly. The other coach we hosted a few years ago, he also stayed in contact. It's great to have social media cause we can see what's going on in their lives, and stay up to date, but it's still a lifetime connection that I know we're gonna stay in contact with them forever.