The Iowa State Elite Residential Soccer Academy camp is a 3-day summer camp targeted towards young females between 8th -12th grade, who wants to have a taste of the competitive college soccer environment and take their game to the next level. The camp will take place at the Cyclone Sports Complex, which is the home of Iowa State soccer.
Iowa State University (ISU), is a nationally no. 1 ranked university by the CollegeAtlas, with students represented from all 50 states and over 100 countries. Ames has become a diverse environment with 100 different majors and the opportunity to develop your leadership skills with over 800 student organizations to choose from. Also in the athletic department the university finish among the nation’s best, this year it landed in the Top 40 of the nation’s most successful athletics departments from a competitive standpoint. Even though The Cyclones is the official NCAA Division 1 team of ISU, the camp is operated independently through the Cyclones soccer academy and is therefore not a part of Iowa State University Camps.
The camp staff consists of experienced coaches from both colleges and high schools, the Cyclone team, as well as the Cyclones own players. Head Coach Tony Minatta (since 2013) has helped almost 40 players achieving spots on NCAA rosters and helped the Cyclones return to the Big 12 Tournament with a fourth -place conference finish. During his education as a coach, he traveled to Italy where he learned from coaches at AC Milan, Inter Milan, AS Roma, Lazio, and the Italian national team. Assistant coach Whitney Sharpe also has experience in the international field. She played professionally for one of the biggest clubs in Europe, Ajax FC in Amsterdam, Netherlands for two seasons before joining the Cyclones coaching team. Assistant coach Jason Wichman has been with the Cyclones for four seasons now, during his time here, he’s been directing the team to one of the best defensive seasons in school history with seven total shutouts and a finish in fourth place in the Big 12 with 93 saves. Assistant coach Megan Kurns who ended her collegiate career ranked eighth on Florida’s career points list with 62, has returned to the Cyclones team after coaching for the Iowa Rush Soccer Club and Ames Highland.
All coaches at the camp are nationally licensed and have both played and coached on the highest level of women’s and men’s soccer.
The Cyclones soccer academy gives young athletes the opportunity to feel a competitive environment on own body and mind, through training with excellent coaches and challenging programs, where the focus is for the individual athlete to enhance team skills and sportsmanship, as much as it is on the development of both technical, tactical, physical and mental skills.
The training sessions will consist of both technical and tactical training aspiring from the latest soccer training methodologies. The athletes will be exposed to the life of a collegiate soccer player, where functional training, daily game play, and strength and conditioning demo will be included in the program.
The camp is aimed towards players with goals of playing soccer on the next level.
3/22/17