Wednesday, July 14, 2021
The Observer | www.theobserver.com
Sports & Recreation
9
What pandemic? WITH
Jim Hague
Kearny welcomes 175 kids to five fields for annual soccer camp
ogsmar@aol.com
Nutley kids come out for popular soccer camp NUTLEY – Mike Perna
is a 10-year-old Nutley resident who is headed into the fifth grade at Yanticaw School. He’s also a big soccer fan. So when the annual Nutley Soccer Camp was postponed from last July due to the coronavirus pandemic, Perna was more than upset. “I was very disappointed,” Perna said. “I didn’t get the chance to see my friends that I normally see.” Nick Scharlat is a 12-year-old headed to the seventh grade at the Nutley Middle School. Scharlat had the same sentiments as Perna. “Soccer is my favorite sport,” Scharlat said. “I got lazy because of COVID (-19). It really made me lazy. I didn’t want to do anything. I just stayed home.” But this summer, nothing was going to stop the Nutley Soccer Camp. “I think people are ready to be out,” said Mike DiPiano, the head girls’ soccer coach at Nutley High School and the director of the summer camp. “Kids are ready to be kids again. We wanted to give our kids a summer experience that they
could remember. We were happy to provide a safe, fun, happy experience.” And DiPiano welcomed approximately 100 youngsters to his first of two camp sessions at the multi-sport facility across the street from the recreation center, the second being August 2 through August 5. The camp is for both boys and girls, which has never caused a problem at DiPiano’s camp. “We’ve always had both boys and girls together,” DiPiano said. “The kids are most all friends and have all been together before. It’s almost 50-50 boys/girls.” DiPiano welcomes kids of all ages. “We do have about 25 first and second graders,” DiPiano said. “We give those kids a basic introduction to soccer.” And DiPiano is impressed with the way youngsters just naturally gravitate. “We have kids who grow up going to our camp,” DiPiano said. “We get them as youngsters, then they move up to being ball girls for our games and then eventuSee VIEW, Page 11
Photo by Jim Hague
These youngsters are having a kick at the annual Kearny Youth Soccer Camp at Harvey Field last week.
By Jim Hague ogsmar@aol.com
KEARNY – If there was proof needed that the area had overcome the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, one just needed to take a gander at the soccer fields in “Soccertown, USA.” If you saw it, there were approximately 175 youngsters attending the Kearny Youth Soccer Camp at places like Harvey Field, Franklin School Field and the Kearny High School field. Boys and girls from the ages of toddler to teenager were taking part in the week-long camp, organized in a collective effort by the high school teams and the Kearny Thistle youth program. The excitement abounded throughout all the youngsters, who were just happy to be in the bright sunshine and summer heat and
humidity instead of being locked inside their respective homes a year ago due to COVID-19, which canceled the annual soccer learning activity. In fact, just a few months ago, it was unsure whether there would be any outdoor activities, much less a soccer camp with kids in close proximity of each other. But Gov. Phil Murphy lifted the COVID-19 regulations for most of the state and that included any type of camp-related activities. Thus, the Kearny Youth Soccer Camp became official once again. Scott Millar, an assistant coach with the Kearny boys’ soccer team and one of the organizers of the camp, said that the turnout was not overly shocking to him. “I’m not surprised with the turnout at all,” said Millar, the son of the long-time head coach and former athletic director John Millar. “I
think not having it last year is a factor for the turnout this year. We have a good turnout from younger age, kids four years old. We have about 30 of those kids and another 40 that are in the 5-6-7 age group. It’s really a great thing to see. A lot of the summer programs in the area have been shut down and kids miss out on those. But we’ve been able to go.” Millar said that he loves working with the younger kids. “They’re probably the best group to deal with, because for some reason, the heat doesn’t bother them,” Millar said. “They really just keep going. They’re all super excited to be here. They want to listen and learn and have fun. If we can sprinkle in a little soccer here and there as we go along, we’ll be fine. And we See KEARNY, Page 10
