(KNSI) – The St. Cloud COP House Youth Soccer Camp has kicked off its fifth season. It teaches kids how to play the game and builds a bond between officers and the community.
More than 120 kids between the ages of six and 13 are taking part in this week’s camp. It’s being held at St. Cloud State University’s Husky Stadium, and members of the men’s team help coach along with high school players from St. John’s Prep and St. Cloud Tech. St. Cloud Police Sergeant Ryan Sayre explained to KNSI News the event was moved on campus due to construction at Haws Park in 2024, and now, they’ve grown to love the new location. “It was such a huge success last year. And the kids just really enjoyed it. It feels like you’re playing in the big leagues under the big lights and on the turf with the big stadium. It’s just a real different feel here.”
The camp has been going on all week and will end on Friday afternoon with one big epic game involving all the coaches, helpers, police officers and kids. “What we’ll do is we’ll play the whole length of the field and then there’ll be four different balls. So it’s almost like four different games going on at once. You’ll see just a group of kids huddling around a ball and just going around,” said Sayre.
He stated the goal of the youth soccer camp is the same as all their activities to encourage positive interactions between the young people in the community and the police.
The program is paid for through the St. Cloud Public Safety Foundation.
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