Lauren Smedley

Tracy NoonanUncategorized

Fall 2009 — I was really, really, really excited to get an email from you! I actually have been thinking of you a lot – especially with the whole college bit. You helped me SO SO SO MUCH! Not only soccer, but mentally and physically as well. So many things I learned from camp and my camp manual help me out in my game so so so much. I just wanted to let you know you’ve done wonders for me in my head on the game of soccer and it’s really awesome to see so much of it play out. I have to admit at camp at times I would think, “Wow, that’s so awkward, why do I have to do it that way?” or “Hmmm…I’ve never heard of that before, but maybe it will make sense later.”, and its just awesome to see it all fall into place. I still have a lot of room for improvement and am always up for learning more, but it’s just really cool to see everything begin to work out. Thank you for EVERYTHING!!!

Summer 2008 — I am just dropping an email to express my appreciation for your camp and the counselors! I learned so, so, so much during that week as well as made some really fantastic friends that I still keep in touch with! I have even brought the experiences and lessons to my games! I really can not convey just how much this camp has done for me! I learned a ton of very valuable information on the tactical game of soccer, picked up A LOT of techniques that I have never learned, and touched up certain skills that I had not properly learned. Like before I went to your camp, I was never the big extension diver to tip the ball over the crossbar. I was just never taught any of those techniques! So at camp, we worked on them so much that it somewhat just became built into my mind! (Even though I really didn’t believe that I, Lauren Smedley, could actually perform one of those ‘COOL professional tip over dives’). Well, on the last day of regional camp, while 3 regional coaches were watching I might add, I DID IT!!!!!!!! Like, I didn’t even think, I JUST DID IT! Like I do it every morning before breakfast!! And to top it all off it was the RIGHT technique! I landed on the ground and was like, in total shock. As I was walking back to the dorm after the game, I replayed the save in my head: sight, foot work, take off, right arm, right hand positioning, right finger movement, AND VOILA! Needless to say, I was thanking you ALLLLL the way back to the dorm. It was just, FREAKEN’ amazing… THANKKK YOUUU!

Lauren SmedleyLauren Smedley, NJ Wildcats, Hamilton, NJ — Lafayette College, 2013