Seattle Sounders Soccer Camp

I have to write a review because I am actually surprised at the previous reviewers’ comments. I have two boys (8 & 11) and this will be their 3^rd year attending the Sounders camp (we only do the ½ day option). My older child previously attend Salt Lake Real camp when we lived in that area and both camps are comparable. My two boys have been playing soccer since they were 3 years old and both play on a travel/​club team in Idaho.
Both kids love the Sounders camp and look forward to it every summer. They’ve attended the camp at Starfire as well as up on the Plateau and from sitting and watching them they learn skill but have lots of fun. My older son just told me he likes it b/​c there is a good balance of skill and fun and that it’s not super hard-​core and strict. (He’s practiced with a private coach locally who is super hard-​core and strict and he hated it). For kids to develop, they need to have fun and this camp provides that. Plus, it’s a great way to get them out of the house and exercising. Certainly the groups are mixed skill and I’m guessing it’s because a lot of kids (mine included) take it with friends who might vary in skill levels – again, the camp is organized so the kids have lots of fun and they encourage friends to stay together in the same group, regardless of skill differential.
The counselors/​coaches are not Sounders players, but teenagers/​young adults who are skilled soccer players (I think some might be Sounders Academy players or play high school/​college soccer) and they do a great job.
For the person who commented about the goalie camp, while my older son has not done the Sounders goalie camp, he did to the one from the Salt Lake Real (and in fact, after he attended that and loved it, I emailed Sounders that they ought to provide such advanced options at their camps and the next summer they added them) but her description and my son’s experience at the SL Real goalie camp sound very similar but her criticism I find unfair. In particular, I find absolutely NOTHING wrong with using the kids to work as goalies for the other advanced camp. Aren’t they there for goalie camp? This is exactly what the SL Real camp did and I thought it great way for both groups to test out the skill that they spent the morning working on. In fact, I’m not sure what the other parent is complaining about – how else do you teach goalies how to work in the goal but to work them in the goal! That parent calls it disrespectful?!! Good grief!
Finally, while there is corporate sponsorship and yes, they do give out swag, my kids enjoy the stuff. If I was that age again, I’m sure I would too.

If you want to send your school-​aged child to soccer camp I would recommend going with a Skyhawks camp instead of Seattle Sounders Soccer Camp.
This was not very organized, engaging, or skill based for my son.
The age range was too large and so the skill set was too watered down and there were alot of just general scrimmages instead of good skill building learning.
They gave little logo freebee gear away almost every day, but that seemed to be the highlight and/​or focus of the camp. For the price, it is just not worth it.
Also the last day they decided to make a half day instead of full day and there was zero communication to the parents on this until you got a phone call at that moment to come pick up your child!
Next year I am going with Skyhawks and I recommend you do that too.

These are week long soccer camps given at various locations throughout the summer. They are heavily sponsored reflecting the corporate obligations of a professional sports franchise. There are corporate logos all over the camp experience on big signs. One feels the camp coaches are there as much to set up the AT&T signage as they are to help kids. We signed our son up for two separate weeks at $ 220 a pop, because he likes soccer and is a Sounders fan. We found the coaching to be unprepared and unprofessional in its approach to child care and elementary level kids. It’s probably a case of overworked, underpaid and underqualified to deal with kids, but we found in two completely separate staffs at two different locations the experience to be lacking in the same ways. To sum it up, it was a waste. We’re pretty experienced with the local camps – YMCA and various others and this was really not up to par.