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Just For Kicks
The 2000 Hawaii Olympic Development camp will be held March 26-29 at Kapiolani Park. Opportunity knocks
for isle youngstersThe state camp is for boys and girls, ages 13-18, who were recognized as very talented players during trials held on each island last fall.
The largest group ever, more than 375 players, will be divided into 10 girls' and 11 boys' teams. They will have four-hour training sessions each morning, then play matches each day from 3 to 6:30 p.m.
All of this will take place under the guidance of 14 mainland coaches, six local coaches and 35 volunteer coaches from the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association.
The Hawaii coaches are Phil Neddo, ODP State Coaching Coordinator; Sean Richardson, ODP State Boys' coach; Dave Mena, ODP State Girls' coach; Bob Barry, head men's coach at Brigham Young-Hawaii; Frank Doyle, head men's coach at Hawaii Pacific, and Sea Warriors head women's coach Mark Kane.
United States national staff members include Peter Mellor, head goalkeeper coach; Carla Chin-Baker, assistant goalkeeper coach; Mike Haas, national director of coaching Bobby Howe, and Mike Parsons, National Soccer Coaches Association of America Director of Coaching.
SEVERAL college coaches on the Region IV staff will be here. They are Phillipe Blin, San Jose State women's coach; Sean Bushey, men's and women's coach at Whitworth College; Greg Murphy, head women's coach at Loyola Marymount; Jean Paul Verhees, University of San Francisco head women's coach; Amy Winslow, head women's coach at Utah, and Pepperdine women's assistant Kristi Waters.
Also working the camp are Kai Haaskivi, director of coaching for the Adidas Soccer Academy, and Jimmy Conway, director of coaching for the state of Oregon.
Not only is this camp an opportunity for Hawaii's youth to be selected to a state team and have the chance to attend the regional ODP camp on the mainland this summer, the college coaches coming here all recruit Hawaii's student/athletes on a regular basis.
Murphy said Hawaii's soccer players used to be one of the best kept secrets, but no more.
Other Region IV states are Alaska, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington.
In the past, 18 boys and 10 girls from Hawaii have been picked for the Regional Team. Three boys have made it to the regional pool and one girl, Romy Trigg-Smith, has been chosen for the National Team.
Also, Neddo has been appointed to the Region IV staff and asked to coach one of the region's age group teams.
(long-s)
The United States Under-23 Men's National Team will try to qualify for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, April 21-30, at Hershey, Pa.
The next match for the U.S. National Men's Team is April 26 against Russia in Moscow.
The Americans have a 3-1-2 record following Sunday's 1-1 tie with Tunisia.
That was the first time in six matches that U.S. midfielder Cobi Jones was held without a point. He had scored in three consecutive matches, the first American to accomplish that since Willie Roy in 1972.
The University of Hawaii women's soccer team finishes spring practice this week.
Camille Kalama, a standout center defender in 1999, has decided to return for her senior season rather than enter law school. "I really didn't play the way I wanted to and it's for the team," said Kalama, a Kamehameha School graduate.
