Winning bidder will receive one week of full-day John Smith soccer camp (8:30-5) at Olin College in Needham, valued at $415.  Camps are coed, for ages 8-17 (ages 9-15 only for June 22, 29 and July 6 weeks).  Camp weeks include:

• 6/22-6/26 (week 1) (monday-friday)


• 6/29-7/3 (week 2) (monday-friday)


• 7/6-7/10 (week 3) (monday-friday)


• 7/12-7/17 (week 4) (sunday-friday)


• 7/19-7/24 (week 5) (sunday-friday)


• 7/26-7/31 (week 6) (sunday-friday)


• 8/2-8/7 (week 7) (sunday-friday)


• 8/9-8/14 (week 8) (sunday-friday)

About John Smith and his Camp: 

John Smith was well-known as a premier place kicker in the NFL from 1973-1983.  John came to the U.S. from England in the summers of 1970-72 and developed soccer programs at two different camps.  The New England Patriots invited John to try out as a placekicker in 1973.  He led the NFL in scoring in 1979 and 1980 and was voted All-Pro. 

John was instrumental in organizing the World Cup Campaign for Boston prior to 1994, and worked as soccer analyst for Channel 5 and Cable News.  John has been instrumental in starting youth soccer programs in various towns, as well as teaching thousands of coaches and parents to enjoy working with young soccer players of all ability levels.

John's eldest daughter Felicity joined the family business after being named All-American in college and playing for Arsenal Women's team in England. 

The staff includes top international, college, high school and club coaches, as well as top collegiate players.  Each coach brings his/her own soccer experiences and expertise to enhance your child's camp experience.

John Smith's Philosophy:

Our goals at JSSA Magic are to provide an advanced level of soccer and fitness training to your son/daughter and the team, to build solid foundations of proper technical and tactical awareness, to compete at the highest possible level as we learn the 6 V6, 8 V 8, 11 v 11 games, and to have a lot of fun while we grow together. This will be accomplished through mastering the building blocks of of ever increasing difficulty and by putting our training to the test in weekly matches.

Our coaching style at JSSA Magic relies on positive reinforcement, humor and non-stressful, low volume critical feedback. We do our instructing in practice where players’ attention can be concentrated on skill building. We refrain from instructing players on the field during a game unless the directions are for positioning, attentiveness, or encouragement to meet a challenge. Our belief is that a player matures only when he/she is capable of making his/hers own decisions and we encourage all players to rely on each other, as well as the coaches.

Simply put, we believe that soccer is a game of skill and control. We work diligently to teach the techniques of the game (dribbling, passing, shooting, control, heading). We want every player to be confident with the ball at their feet and be able to play 1V1, both offensively and defensively. Our progression includes small group games and working on what we call shape (triangle and diamonds) again, offensively and defensively. We constantly emphasis a good first touch, which means the player can lift his/her head and begin to recognize options or choices that are available at any given point in time. This is what we call tactics or decision making. Now our progression is essentially numbers up situations and we work on 2v1, 3v1, 3v2, 4v1, 4v2 etc. once again offensively and defensively. Our ultimate goal is playing a methodology which emphasizes possession on offense and pressure on defense; a team shape which involves playing in the other teams half and producing many goal scoring opportunities. Player development is and will continue to be our primary focus working with players from 6-18 years old. This method of play will produce good technically sound and tactically aware players which will ultimately produce team success on the field.

Link is www.johnsmithsoccer.com