Top pro coaching highlights Strikers Soccer School
(Photo by ERIC PLUMMER) Isabella Waters and Anthony Tallent were the Pend Oreille Veterinary Campers of the Day on Monday during the first day of the Strikers Soccer School at Farmin-Stidwell. Pictured back row, from left to right, are camp coaches Mike Ramos, Anthony Fox, Evan McNeley and Mikel Palmerin. Waters was prised for doing what the coaches said, while Ramos praised Tallent for being focused. “Knowing when your turn is up,” said Ramos. “Being a good teammate and helping each other out.”
SANDPOINT — There’s a good reason the small little soccer hamlet that is Sandpoint draws more than 200 youth annually to the Strikers Soccer School week long camp, a per capita number that boggles the mind.
It starts with great coaches, and 2018 is no different than when indoor soccer legend Brian Farber started the camp 13 years ago, with a host of current and former college and professional players on hand to make sure the campers have a ball while learning the game of soccer.
This year brought another first time coach to the camp, as current Spokane Shadow player Mike Ramos is one of five coaches on hand for the week-long camp. Ramos, who was drafted by Toronto FC of Major League Soccer before starring for the Tacoma Stars and the Kitsap Pumas, played two years alongside longtime camp coach Evan McNeley with the Stars.
He said he loves Sandpoint, and has played with the local Green Monarchs in the past. Ramos is currently playing alongside former Sandpoint standout Tanner Williams, himself a former coach at the Sandpoint Camp, in the Shadow attack. In fact, Ramos scored a goal and dished out an assist for a Williams goal in the Shadow’s 2-0 win over FCM Portland, remaining undefeated at 4-0-4 in the Northwest League of the National Premier Soccer League.
Ramos says he sees a lot of himself in Williams skills-wise, both players who are able to beat defenders off the dribble and difficult to stop on each wing.
“We have the same tendencies, both creative. We’re duplicates,” said Ramos of Williams, also lauding the work of McNeley, who is the current boys head coach at Sandpoint and runs the camp. “His enthusiasm and love for football, and expanding the growth of soccer here in Sandpoint.”
Other coaches at the camp included Mikel Palmerin, a member of the U.S. National Beach Soccer team who also played with Farber on the San Diego Sockers, who returned for another year, former Bulldog and member of the University of Idaho men’s soccer team Anthony Fox, and Strikers Director of Coaching Rick Mullins, himself a former college player and member of the original Spokane Shadow team.
Add in McNeley, who took over the camp years ago when former Oregon State teammate Farber stepped down, and it’s easy to see why the Sandpoint boys and girls soccer teams continue to have supreme success at the state level. They’re getting expert tutelage from 5-15 years of age, and developing a taste and love for the game.
As of Monday, there were more than 190 kids signed up for the camp, which dropped the high school portion of the camp this year for the first time.
Ramos will return to pro action, along with Williams, when the Shadow look to remain undefeated in a pair of home games this weekend against PDX FC, the other Portland team. Saturday’s game is at 5 p.m. at Spokane Falls Community College, while Sunday’s game starts at 1 p.m. at the Polo Grounds.