by Grayling Holmes / photos by Grayling Holmes

St. Louis City SC hosted a week-long soccer camp for approximately 30 seven-to-nine-year-olds from the Boys & Girls Clubs of St. Louis. The soccer and life skills summer camp culminated on Thursday, July 13, when St. Louis City SC community coaches practiced soccer skills with the girls and boys at the state-of-the-art downtown soccer stadium. Presented by Purina, the event also featured special performances from the Purina Incredible Dogs team on Lou Fusz Plaza at CITYPARK.

“This is our fun field trip day,” said Ralston Purina Lead Communications Specialist of Community Affairs, Dan Koehler. According to him, earlier in the week the children not only participated in the soccer summer camp but Purina incorporated some pets as well from some of their pet welfare partners to come in and teach them responsible pet ownership and education.

During the Incredible Dogs show, I personally witnessed the look of wonder on the kids’ faces as they saw the cool things that dogs could be trained to do if taken the next level. The realm of canine athletics were put on full display as a trainer put the dogs through their paces as the kids cheered.

Next, the kids scrimmaged with and honed their soccer skills with St. Louis CITY2 midfielder Larsen Hackworth and athletic trainer Zach Hopkins. Lastly, the group gathered inside the stadium for photo opps with the team.

“Purina is the kid’s sponsor for St. Louis CITY SC and Purina has been a decades-long sponsor of the Boys & Girls Clubs in St. Louis,” said Koehler. St. Louis CITY SC has also identified the Boys & Girls Club as a non-profit they want to work with on their FUTURES program that helps make soccer free and accessible to all neighborhoods, all regions of St. Louis.