Coaching staff and student athletes at California Lutheran University will kick off summer with a variety of different sports summer camps. Sports offered will include football, volleyball, water polo, soccer, tennis and three basketball camps. They will take place at CLU’s athletic facilities.

Despite rigorous schedules during regular sports seasons, coaches and collegiate players will return to the CLU campus to host recreational camps for young athletes, ages 5 to 18. With such a wide range of ages and experience levels, CLU’s coaching staff aims to create activities and drills that all campers can benefit from.

CLU women’s soccer head coach, Frank Marino, said he is excited to work with young campers because they bring fresh enthusiasm to the game. Whether campers are looking to try soccer for the first time or looking to improve the skills they already have, Marino enjoys seeing them grow as players and interacting with his student athletes.

“I get as much joy watching our players work with the kids as I do from working with the kids myself,” Marino said.

According to the camp’s website, Marino will co-host the soccer camp with CLU men’s soccer head coach Dan Kuntz at William Rolland Stadium.

Laura Freimuth, assistant women’s basketball coach at CLU, will host the Regals basketball camps, which include an elite camp, a team camp and a youth camp. Each based on players’ ages and skill levels.

The elite camp, which caters to experienced high school-level athletes, will focus on preparing campers for playing at a more advanced level in anticipation for collegiate basketball.

“This is an opportunity for campers to work closely with our coaching staff and current players on a variety of skills. Our elite camp will be held much like a college practice,” Freimuth said. “We like to run that more as a practice, so we will do drills that you might expect our players to do on a daily basis. Collective drills like transition and team defense, down to individual skills like footwork and ball handling.”

In addition to the rewards of working with novice players, CLU’s men’s and women’s water polo head coach Craig Rond is excited to work alongside seasoned professionals. Such elites will include water polo Olympians Terry Schroeder and Merril Moses, both of whom will aid Rond in coaching approximately 70 campers at CLU’s Samuelson Aquatics Center in June.

According to the water polo camp website, Rond’s campers will be given the option to stay overnight in on-campus housing and have a meal plan during the five-day session. The majority of the time, however, will be spent in the pool doing hands-on activities. During a typical camp day, Rond said activities will include “about six hours in the water, dry land training, videos from the Olympics [and] talks about college.”

In July, CLU women’s volleyball head coach Kellee Roesel will coach a group of 15 volleyball campers in grades six through nine. The small group size will allow Roesel and her assistant coaching staff to provide a more individualized experience for campers.

During the regular college volleyball season, Roesel and her volleyball players maintain a grueling schedule that includes practices, game play, conditioning, team meetings and tournaments, some of which require travel time.

“It’s a nice break from the grind of collegiate volleyball,” Roesel said.

However, the intensity of college-level play has not quelled her passion for volleyball and to pass it along to her young campers.

“It’s awesome to see how they progress in a week and introduce them to a game that I love,” Roesel said.

Overall, CLU’s coaching staff will look forward to their second summer camp sessions and the challenges and fresh talent the camps attract.

“Anytime you see a player grow and develop is a rewarding feeling. I think that’s why coaches do what they do. [The campers’] willingness to learn and their desire to improve is refreshing. To see the transformation that takes place with a lot of these campers over the course of just a few days is often times remarkable,” Freimuth said.

To find out more about CLU’s summer sports camp sessions, visit www.clusports.com/pages/camps.

Allison Tade
Staff Writer
Published May 7, 2014