Most of the camps hosted by Eastern so far this year have had one common theme, individual development. This week Eastern is taking the opposite approach to the high school boys participating in the Eastern soccer camp by preaching teamwork.

“We are working with a lot of teams, we have 14 teams, we are working on getting them ready for their high school seasons,” said Adam Howarth, camp director and men’s soccer head coach.

Several teams from all over the state, and a few from out of state and out of the country, came to Eastern this week to learn different formations and tactics to help them improve as a team.

Some of the teams consist entirely of players who have been around each other for years, while other teams are a mix of different players.

“As a team camp most of them have already played together, whereas this team is really a bunch of individuals that are coming together just this week,” camp coach Gary Laidlaw said. “I think that there is good talent out here, but it takes a while to blend talent and that’s our challenge. I think the two independent teams greatest challenge we have is taking the time to have players understand each others roles in such a short time.”

Howarth says that teamwork is the most important quality for a team to succeed. He says that teamwork even affects the professional world of soccer. He feels that in the World Cup, Italy was better as a team than as individuals.

Not all the independent players agreed that lack of familiarity was a detriment to the team’s development.

“Some teams think that they are just going to come in here and whoop everybody because we have a mix of people, but we have different strategies from all the different people while other teams may only have one from the one coach they’ve all had,” camp participant Blain Perry said.

Perry said that he only knew three of his teammates before camp started, the rest were all new faces. One of his teammates was from as far away as Brazil.

“It’s always a challenge when you go to camps if you don’t go with a whole team, but I think it’s better to go with a lot of people you don’t know as opposed to going with a team,” camper David Wickline said. “We still don’t know all our strengths and weaknesses, but it should come by the time we leave.”

Teams scrimmage each other throughout the week leading up to a tournament on Thursday. The players were unsure as to whether or not there would be a prize to the winning team, but to them it does not matter. They are at the camp to learn and have fun, winning the tournament just adds to the fun they are already experiencing.