By Liz Leamy
This summer, the Cos Cob Park playing field has been a main hub for scores of young athletes based in and around Greenwich and its surrounding areas who have been training and developing their ball, playing and field skills at the renowned Cardinal Soccer Camps.
On any given day, participants of this esteemed summer camp, implemented back in 2003 by Kurt Putnam, the Greenwich High School Boys Varsity Coach and Stuart Smith, the Convent of the Sacred Heart Girls Varsity Coach, the organization’s Co-Owners and Co-Directors, spend their time learning, developing and training their soccer skills while also building themselves as athletes and individuals.
“These kids are great and our job with all of them is to make certain they enjoy and have fun with the sport of soccer,” said Putnam, whose 2022-23 Greenwich High School Boys Soccer Team, claimed the Connecticut CIAC Class LL Championship (state) title last season, making them the first Greenwich High School Boys Soccer contingent to have achieved this feat since 1961. “We try to make sure we cover everything and strive to cover all of the different aspects and elements of the sport, especially how important it is to work together as a team.”
From Mondays through Fridays from late June through August, it is a sight to see all of the athletes, coaches and counselors in action at this camp, located at the picturesque Cos Cob Park field on Long Island Sound, a Town of Greenwich-operated site that has been the Cardinal Soccer Camps’ summer headquarters for the past nine years. (Prior to being at this site, the Cardinal Soccer Camp had been based at other locales, including Whitby School in Greenwich.)
“We have a program that is centered around training the skills and playing the game. We want to incorporate all the different elements and aspects of soccer through these things so everyone benefits,” said Putnam, who is also the Greenwich United Coaching Director. “We also like to put the groups together where the athletes are in close age range of one another so everyone is well situated and in a position to develop their skills optimally.”
Typically, in the mornings, campers, who generally range in age from three to 18 years old, spend their time working on different concepts such as one versus one, passing and receiving out of pressure and shooting from different angles, facing or with back to goal.
In the afternoon, the athletes train at stations set up all around the field where they practice soccer tennis, shooting, skills, challenges and games of kickball, as having lower-intensity exercises in the afternoon is key to player safety when the hottest times of the day occur.
On Fridays, campers scrimmage and also participate in the organization’s weekly version of a World Cup tournament in which they represent teams from such countries as the U.S., England, Argentina and Brazil.
In this weekly tournament, each team accumulates points through various challenges, scrimmages and matches, with camp participants all being awarded congratulatory certificates on Fridays in a sit-down ceremony at the field, a camp highlight.
“It’s a lot of fun and something everyone looks forward to,” said Putnam, who had started coaching soccer in the area at the Whitby School in Greenwich in the early 1990s. “It’s another aspect of the camp where we try to bring everyone together through learning, training and playing.”
In addition to the skill building, scrimmaging and games, this camp is also focused on teaching its students the importance of building good relationships and connections with one another, rendering this as an experience that goes beyond just developing athletics.
“Connection is everything,” said Smith, who is also Director of Coaching for the Greenwich Soccer Association. “The relationships the players build with one another and that coaches build with the players are the foundation of what we are all about.”
Clearly, the connections among those at this camp is something to see, as virtually everyone there work together in harmony, something of which Putnam and Smith like to give their staff of coaches and counselors much credit for.
“These are our former players who work hard and put in a lot of energy, time and effort into what they do,” said Putnam. “We also have a great group of coaches who are dedicated to what they do.”
Certainly, Putnam and Smith seem to have a golden touch in terms of knowing how to construct and execute an optimal training and learning sports environment for young soccer players, especially considering the camp’s sizable number of participants.
This summer, the Cardinal Summer Camps has had 700 to 800 unique participants with more than 125 to 130 campers each week, stats that speak volumes, for certain.
For Putnam and Smith, the goal is to just do an optimal job in regard to providing every camper with a fun and productive soccer experience on all fronts.
“We want to provide a structured, enriching and fun program for all of the kids,” said Putnam. “We want to make sure everyone is safe, productive and are always having a good time out there.”
Without a doubt, the commitment, efforts and heart of Putnam and Smith have been the primary reason for so much of its success and impact upon so many over the years, as well as the efforts of their coaching and counselor staff.
“This camp is incredible and Kurt and Stuart are awesome. We work hard with the kids so we can pass on our knowledge and love of soccer,” said Jake Hugh-Jones of Greenwich, an Assistant Coach at the Cardinal Summer Camps who was the 2021 Greenwich High School Boy’s Varsity Soccer Team Captain and is attending the University of Maryland. “This camp is about helping the kids build their skills and also instilling the idea of working and having fun together. One of the best parts, for me, is when things start to click for them. They just fly around the field.”
Other coaches there agreed.
“It’s a blast to be here. You get to coach the kids and pass on what you’ve learned,” said Alejandro Rodriguez of Greenwich, also a Captain of the 2021 Greenwich High School Boy’s Varsity Soccer Team who will be starting his sophomore year at Northeastern University in Boston in the September. “It’s great to see them grow, work together and develop their skills and to be a part of this process is great. We played for Kurt and now spend our summers working with him.”
Rodriguez also said he enjoys being part of the whole interaction and teamwork process, including those moments when ‘opportunities for growth’ might come up.
“If there are kids who have a slight difference with one another and initially might not agree on something, they’ll talk it out, give each other a high five and then just move on,” said Rodriguez. “They figure things out.”
Clearly, the Cardinal Summer Camps have a design that works, especially in witnessing all of the accomplishments, success and passion of so many its participants through the years right up through to the present.
During the rest of the year, especially during the fall and winter seasons, many of the camp’s participants go on to play for area clubs and school teams during the fall, which speaks volumes about its effectiveness.
At the same time, some athletes move onto playing in college, including Caroline O’Neill, who was part of the Cardinal Summer Camps’ staff this summer and is the Junior Captain of the Tufts University Women’s Soccer Team based in Medford, Massachusetts.
The biggest takeaway, however, is that so many of the camp’s participants over the years have gone on to make soccer such a significant and lasting priority in their lives.
“A lot of the kids play in clubs and schools and go on to play in college and after that at some level which means a lot,” said Putnam. “We have coaches and counselors who started here as players who are now in college. They enjoy being here teaching the kids and passing their knowledge and experience onto them.”
Most definitely, the enthusiasm and energy of everyone at this camp, including the coaches and counselors is palpable.
“You learn so much here and there are so many opportunities to be gotten by being part of this camp,” said Hugh-Jones, who has been part of the Cardinal Soccer Camps since 2015, when he was first started there as a player. “This is a great place and I love being here.”
Clearly, this is another example as to why the Cardinal Soccer Camps have come to be recognized as one of the premier soccer summer training organizations in the New York metropolitan area.
For Putnam and Smith, it’s all about doing a solid job so all of their students continue to grow, get stronger and enjoy themselves while learning, training and playing soccer.
“We want to educate the kids and show them there are always many opportunities and options in regard to playing and training,” said Putnam. “It’s all about expression that you gain from the experience of learning and playing. Along the way, there are many life lessons that are learned as well, including the importance of respect, compassion and working together as a team.”
No doubt, as Putnam, Smith and their staff wrap up the Cardinal Summer Camps later this month, there will be scores of young athletes who will have left there further transformed, having gleaned many important life lessons as well as good and lasting memories.
“To see these kids work so hard and have such a good time together is great,” said Smith. “They are doing a sport they really enjoy and developing and building friendships with one another, which I think is a big win in itself.”
