<p>Hi all:
My niece is a budding Mia Haam (sp?) - or dreams of being - and wants to find a serious sleep away soccer camp for girls. She is 13. Any suggestions/experiences from you pros would be most welcome. Thanks!</p>
<p>As a former soccer player, I’d suggest that at that age stay closeish to home. I went to Indiana and UNC when I was 15. The skill level at UNC was very high. A lot of attention was lavished on the top players though.</p>
<p>Thanks ticktytock14. Are most good camps based at college campuses?</p>
<p>There is a good soccer camp held at Pepperdine University (in Malibu) each summer. Many of my daughter’s friends have attended and loved it.</p>
<p>Thanks sfvmomof3. My sister-in-law says there are thousands of camps on the web and she has no idea of how to go about picking one. Word of mouth is always the best reference I think!</p>
<p>A couple of my children have had great experiences at college sports camps, both close to home and far a field. Most seem to have a couple of age levels. I know my children really enjoyed doing the dorm thing, and DD was probably about 13 the first time she did it (with a friend at a high level camp, but not soccer). Word of mouth is really your best indicator, plus look at how many years the camp has existed.</p>
<p>If your niece is playing for a high level soccer club, the coaches/trainers can probably recommend some or know of camps that other players have attended.</p>
<p>I agree with vulture, that any high level club will be able to give appropriate recommendations. At what level is your niece playing? By age 13, most high level players will have been playing for 7 or 8 years and will be playing for rep/travelling/allstar teams. That was the experience all of my Ds had, and they played for the largest club in North America. In fact, no competitive player in our club would be going to a camp during the summer because our season here is from May through September, and competitive players can’t be missing games and practices to be away at camp. 
I know that in other areas the season is not as long and is often during different months. It’s best to check with the club she’s playing for now and see what they recommend. Good luck! Soccer is a great game. Three of my Ds still play at 19, 21 and 24.</p>
<p>3xboys, in what state does your niece live?</p>
<p>Thanks so much everyone. mafool, she lives in Pennsylvania. I am actually not sure how good she is at the moment (club team etc). Will find out and report back…Thanks again!</p>
<p>3xboys, for her first soccer camp, I would suggest that you check out some local colleges. We have a smallish LAC in town that sponsors a camp; the college players are the coach/counselors and the head coach runs the camp.</p>
<p>Thanks mafool, but for some reason she really wants a sleep-away experience…</p>
<p>oh, sorry. The camps I was referring to are sleep away. The campers stay in the dorms. They are just not necessarily several states away.</p>
<p>Having sent 3 boys through many soccer camps, I agree that at her age, she should have many good options in-state. It probably doesn’t matter too much where, although it might help if she has a teammate going with her. I’d also caution her to dial down any expectations from attending a sports camp. Unless she’s eventually old enough and good enough that she starts attending camps at colleges she’d like to play at, she’ll have a lot of fun but it likely won’t make any long-term difference in her soccer. A lot of the college soccer recruiting goes on at the high-level showcase tournaments.</p>
<p>Thanks very much, everyone. I don’t think she is even playing club (her mother is wracked with guilt - hence, the camp. Are there some camps that are too high level or do all camps accommodate all comers?</p>
<p>There definitely are camps that are higher level, ones that are recruiting vehicles (focus on older kids) and ones that seem to be centered on whole teams. My daughter went to the Santa Clara camp and found it to be definitely the latter two- and as a solo, younger player did not get much out of the experience. </p>
<p>I would focus on camps at local universities where the age bracket is such she would be at the older end of the range (e.g. 11-14s) rather than one for “high schoolers” where she is more likely to be lost in the junior focus.</p>