Kyle Nakazawa, a UCLA All-American and a player with the Los Angeles Galaxy of the Major League Soccer, will be bringing back his popular soccer camp during the winter break. “We are looking forward to the Third Annual camp in
Kyle Nakazawa, a UCLA All-American and a player with the Los Angeles Galaxy of the Major League Soccer, will be bringing back his popular soccer camp during the winter break.
“We are looking forward to the Third Annual camp in December at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Sports Park in Lydgate,” Nakazawa said in an email. “We would like all the keiki on the island to have the opportunity to come to the camp, if they want to.”
The special soccer camp instructed by Nakazawa and other top professional and collegiate players will be held Dec. 21 through 23 with Half Day and Full Day sessions available.
Half-day camps run from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. while full-day camps are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Camp is open to boys and girls from ages 5 through 17.
Registration is currently being accepted at www.kylenakazawa.com with rates of $90 for the half-day camp for all three days. Full-day camp is $130 for the three days.
A special Early Bird discount of 10 percent is available if registration is completed before Nov. 15.
“The core of coaches from the past two years will be returning, including MLS professionals David Estrada of the Seattle Sounders, a University of California at Los Angeles All-Pac 10.
Kaua‘i’s own Mariko Strickland, a San Diego State and Long Beach State standout, will be joined by Lauren Barnes, currently a Division I college coach at the University California, Riverside.
Ryan Futagaki will be a new coach at this year’s camp, a UCLA All-American prior to going on to become the first Japanese-American player to play in MLS, playing with the Chicago Fire for four years. Futagaki currently plays for the USA National Beach Soccer Team.
Trevor Hunter will return as the goalkeeping coach with goalkeeping-specific training, last year’s crop of goalies currently enjoying the benefits of his training on both the American Soccer Youth Organization and Kaua‘i Soccer Association fields.
“The whole idea behind the camp is to give back to the community of Kaua‘i, which offered me so much while I was growing up,” Nakazawa said. “My family lives in Kapa‘a so I would spend my school year on the Mainland, but my breaks were on Kaua‘i.”
Kyle said his uncle is Ken Nakazawa of Nakazawa Construction and his cousin Kainoa operates Killah Steaks, which will be providing plate lunches for the camp as he did last year.
“Kids of all ages and levels can attend the camp,” Kyle said. “Whether you are a beginner, or a competitive high school player aspiring to play at the collegiate level and beyond, our camp gives players the opportunity to learn and train with some of the top professional and college players.”
For more information and registration visit www.kylenakazawa.com
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
