Duluth coach adds new section to camp
By Robert Haddocks
Atlanta Journal Constitution - June 20, 2008
It's always soccer season for Gregg Tavani. If he's not coaching at Duluth, he's coaching a club team. If not club, he's running a summer camp.
Tavani hosts his sixth annual camp beginning next week at Bunten Park in Duluth. The coach hopes to draw more than last year's camp, which had more than 350 kids. To that end, Tavani has added an Elite Camp and he's holding a camp in Forsyth County this week.
"I love it, man," Tavani said. "I enjoy seeing the kids learn, have fun and develop. And it's another way to spend time with my family, it's good for the community and to stay in touch with former players."
The Duluth camp runs from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, followed immediately each day by a 90-minute Elite Camp. Boys and girls ages 7 to 15 can attend the main camp. The Elite Camp is open to ages 10-15. The camps will continue July 7-11 and July 14-18.
Tavani said each year he tries to add something different to the camp. The coach and his brother, Michael, decided that an Elite Camp would do well because many kids didn't want to leave when the regular camp ended at noon.
"A lot of campers the last few years said, 'We want to keep training, practicing, we're having a lot of fun,' " Tavani said. "It's going to be a lot more personalized and a little more intense."
Soccer trivia has been a staple of Tavani's camps and this year's focus will be the European Championships, which run through the end of the month, the World Cup qualifying games and the Olympics.
Also, Tavani will have several of his former players working as assistants. Jorge Torres and Arturo Reyes, who graduated this year, will be joined by other former Wildcats Patrick Ahearn, Andreu Harris, Joey Rector, Mohammed Dolleh, Emily Bender and Kara Bennewitz. Alexa Jones, an All-County player at Collins Hill last season, also will work the camp. The camps are $145 per week and an additional $65 for the Elite Camp. The price for all three weeks of the main camp is $395. For more information, visit www.tavanisoccer.com.
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