10
s
ummer offers opportunities to encourage youth in
your community to be involved in an indoor sport
for the first-time or on an ongoing basis. It also gives
you the opportunity for guaranteed, non-weather
dependent income.
Until a few years ago, Uihlein soccer park, home of
the Milwaukee Kickers soccer club and a stop on this
year's Facility Bus Tour at the USIndoor Conference,
utilized the club's staff and resources to facilitate
summer camps to keep children learning, growing, and
achieving during the summer months. However, after
evaluating camp expenses and declining registrants
due to several factors, including youth summer
program market saturation, the park changed its camp
model to better benefit families and its bottom line.
"We realized that many of our campers were players in
our club, who were familiar with our staff coaches, and
they wanted a different soccer training experience over
the summer," says Alvaro Garcia-Velez, Milwaukee
summer
CAmp suCCess:
pArtnering globAlly,
providing loCAlly
by Tammy Gilpin-Ripp
Kickers Soccer Club executive director. "Rather than
discontinuing soccer camps, we evolved our model
and integrated international soccer club run camps
which, in turn, increased parental satisfaction, camper
enrichment, and park profitability."
