Children have a ball during soccer camp

Rancho Santa Fe Soccer held camp last week under a forgiving summer sun at the Rancho Santa Fe Fields. About 75 campers turned up to learn about dribbling, passing, shooting and what director of coaching Malcolm Tovey calls “ball mastery” - fakes and tricky maneuvers.

Under the watch of coaches such as David Rowe, Jase Scarvaci, Alyssa Sobolik and Shawn Beyer, children were split into age groups and played all kinds of creative soccer games.

In one game, the girls were split up into “ships” and “crabs.” The ships had to steer their ball safely through a maze of crabs, the girls crawling on the grass like ball-starved crustaceans.

“It was a great week, the kids had a blast,” Tovey said. “The most important thing for us when they’re young is that they have fun and leave motivated and wanting to play more soccer.”

Limited space is available on the league’s recreational teams. For more information, call (760) 479-1500.