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-Coach Bav
Fundraising News: To date WCC has raised over $4,950 for local kids at the Poker Texas Hold'em night at CB Hannigans. Thanks goes out to the community for your support. NEXT POKER NIGHT - May 9th 2009
Click on the icon to check out Coach Bav's Winners Circle video demonstrating the Buddy System, Positive Charting and Winners Circle! See Coach Bav's Positive Coaching Alliance article on "Motivating your Player" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
2009 - MAKING HEADLINE AGAIN !
Soccer camp 'not just about soccer'
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Ryan Matarangas, left, and Jax Ulbrich work on their dribbling during a warm-up drill before the start of Friday's session of the West Coast Coaching Camp at P.A. Elementary School. | |
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Photo by: Lora Schraft | |
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From left, Chloe Barraza, Jurnie Schilling, Natalie Ahmadzaden and Sammy Ulbrich celebrate their team's goal during a tournament at the West Coast Coaching Camp. | |
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Photo by: Lora Schraft | |
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MORGAN HILL -- His formal name is Bhavish Thakrar, but the Londoner is known as coach Bhav to most people in Morgan Hill, especially soccer-loving kids between the ages of 4 and 14.
Coach Bhav and his blokes from West Coast Coaching meet a new batch of them each summer when their tour of WCC Soccer Camps comes to P.A. Walsh Elementary School. Most of the time, you can easily pick out coach Bhav amid the scores of scampering brightly dressed campers; he's the biggest kid of all.
For one reporter, though, coach Bhav was tough to spot at first Friday. He was off in the shade tying one of his camper's cleats.
"We teach them about more than just soccer," Bhav said while performing a loop, swoop and pull for 6-year-old Steven Rosenberger. "All right, 'Muscles,' go join your teammates."
Coach Bhav, 32, has a nickname for every one of his 300 campers. Even some of his assistants, who are certified professional coaches in England, get a handle. Muscles was back on the field a minute later to take part in a six-game tournament shepherded by coaches Ben Starkie and Gary "Goose" Mardle, whom coach Bhav said is a dead ringer for Anthony Edwards circa Top Gun.
"My coaches love working with kids. We do it for a living," said Thakrar, a licensed coach who has a master's degree in education. "We don't look out like baby sitters. We like to get out there and participate with the kids."
It is a tough task, considering the ratio of campers to coaches is 100-to-1. Coach Bhav and his staff do a remarkable job, though, which is the main reason why WCC was named one of the top five most responsible companies in the U.S. by Liberty Mutual a year ago -- and why the WCC's Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League-sponsored camps have been so popular.
"She never stops talking about soccer when she comes home," Alicia Ahmadzadeh said of her 7-year-old daughter, Natalie. "She has a great time with the coaches. They make jokes, but they also help the kids improve."
Recession has only slightly affected the turnout. Admission to one of the weeklong camps included a T-shirt and graduation gifts.
"Obviously, soccer camp isn't a necessity in people's lives right now," Thakrar said. "We keep our price as reasonable as possible."
Coach Bhav runs a rigid, but fun, schedule. He keeps his campers in perpetual motion by breaking up drills and games into small groups based on skill level.
"We get maximum participation -- maximum -- from everyone that signs up no matter what their ability is, and we have a mixed bag of ability.
"The kids all want to touch the ball, so we put them into as many small games as we can. We try to give them a thousand touches a day."
That results in plenty of goals and plenty of smiles.
"The best part is playing with your friends," said Jax Ulbrich, 5, who attended the camp with his 8-year-old sister, Sammy. Morgan Hill residents can probably guess whom their father is (Hint: He plays linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers).
Coach Bhav, who is a member of the Positive Coaching Alliance, teaches more than just the beautiful game. He and his staff encourage healthy lifestyles such as valuing good nutrition and a strong work ethic. They even hand out light homework assignments to keep the kids' minds engaged.
The same methods worked for the coaches.
"When I was younger, I had a fantastic soccer coach who got passion into me," Mardle, a 22-year-old London native, said. "When he used to say to me I sometimes use with the children.
"(Bhav) is great with the kids. I jumped at the chance to join him. The most rewarding part is seeing the kids smile and say 'thank you, coach.' "
"We keep our program quite small because we want it to be unique," Thakrar said. "The camp is about more than soccer. It's about learning to respect yourself and others as well. We truly give them life lessons -- and I'll show you in a minute."
With a charming accent, coach Bhav asked his campers to gather around.
"What do we do when our opponent trips and falls?" he asked.
Campers: "We pick them up."
"And what do we do when the referee makes a call we don't particularly care for? Why do we not get mad?"
Campers: "It's important to respect others."
The best camps are the ones you don't want to leave. As much fun as Friday's session was, it played out with lingering sadness. Friday was graduation day.
"I've got good news and bad news," coach Bhav said to his campers. "The bad news is, this is the last day of camp."
The gallery groaned.
"The good news is, we have one tournament left!"
The gallery cheered.
Coach Bhav had another spectacle in store as well. The afternoon ended with the campers joining their parents for drills and games.
Perhaps Sammy Ulbrich summed up the experience best.
"I don't like soccer, but I love this camp."
Coach Bhav and his blokes from West Coast Coaching meet a new batch of them each summer when their tour of WCC Soccer Camps comes to P.A. Walsh Elementary School. Most of the time, you can easily pick out coach Bhav amid the scores of scampering brightly dressed campers; he's the biggest kid of all.
For one reporter, though, coach Bhav was tough to spot at first Friday. He was off in the shade tying one of his camper's cleats.
"We teach them about more than just soccer," Bhav said while performing a loop, swoop and pull for 6-year-old Steven Rosenberger. "All right, 'Muscles,' go join your teammates."
Coach Bhav, 32, has a nickname for every one of his 300 campers. Even some of his assistants, who are certified professional coaches in England, get a handle. Muscles was back on the field a minute later to take part in a six-game tournament shepherded by coaches Ben Starkie and Gary "Goose" Mardle, whom coach Bhav said is a dead ringer for Anthony Edwards circa Top Gun.
"My coaches love working with kids. We do it for a living," said Thakrar, a licensed coach who has a master's degree in education. "We don't look out like baby sitters. We like to get out there and participate with the kids."
It is a tough task, considering the ratio of campers to coaches is 100-to-1. Coach Bhav and his staff do a remarkable job, though, which is the main reason why WCC was named one of the top five most responsible companies in the U.S. by Liberty Mutual a year ago -- and why the WCC's Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League-sponsored camps have been so popular.
"She never stops talking about soccer when she comes home," Alicia Ahmadzadeh said of her 7-year-old daughter, Natalie. "She has a great time with the coaches. They make jokes, but they also help the kids improve."
Recession has only slightly affected the turnout. Admission to one of the weeklong camps included a T-shirt and graduation gifts.
"Obviously, soccer camp isn't a necessity in people's lives right now," Thakrar said. "We keep our price as reasonable as possible."
Coach Bhav runs a rigid, but fun, schedule. He keeps his campers in perpetual motion by breaking up drills and games into small groups based on skill level.
"We get maximum participation -- maximum -- from everyone that signs up no matter what their ability is, and we have a mixed bag of ability.
"The kids all want to touch the ball, so we put them into as many small games as we can. We try to give them a thousand touches a day."
That results in plenty of goals and plenty of smiles.
"The best part is playing with your friends," said Jax Ulbrich, 5, who attended the camp with his 8-year-old sister, Sammy. Morgan Hill residents can probably guess whom their father is (Hint: He plays linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers).
Coach Bhav, who is a member of the Positive Coaching Alliance, teaches more than just the beautiful game. He and his staff encourage healthy lifestyles such as valuing good nutrition and a strong work ethic. They even hand out light homework assignments to keep the kids' minds engaged.
The same methods worked for the coaches.
"When I was younger, I had a fantastic soccer coach who got passion into me," Mardle, a 22-year-old London native, said. "When he used to say to me I sometimes use with the children.
"(Bhav) is great with the kids. I jumped at the chance to join him. The most rewarding part is seeing the kids smile and say 'thank you, coach.' "
"We keep our program quite small because we want it to be unique," Thakrar said. "The camp is about more than soccer. It's about learning to respect yourself and others as well. We truly give them life lessons -- and I'll show you in a minute."
With a charming accent, coach Bhav asked his campers to gather around.
"What do we do when our opponent trips and falls?" he asked.
Campers: "We pick them up."
"And what do we do when the referee makes a call we don't particularly care for? Why do we not get mad?"
Campers: "It's important to respect others."
The best camps are the ones you don't want to leave. As much fun as Friday's session was, it played out with lingering sadness. Friday was graduation day.
"I've got good news and bad news," coach Bhav said to his campers. "The bad news is, this is the last day of camp."
The gallery groaned.
"The good news is, we have one tournament left!"
The gallery cheered.
Coach Bhav had another spectacle in store as well. The afternoon ended with the campers joining their parents for drills and games.
Perhaps Sammy Ulbrich summed up the experience best.
"I don't like soccer, but I love this camp."
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Kimmie Sabsay, 8, left, and Julianne Camacho, 8, compete for the ball during a scrimmage at the West Coast Coaching soccer camp at P.A. Walsh Elementary School on Wednesday. | |
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Photo by: Lora Schraft | |
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John Kapaku, 9, left, and Mikey Yamaguma, 8, celebrate after their team scored the final point to win during a scrimmage. | |
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Photo by: Lora Schraft | |
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Jarod Puthoff, 9, center left, and Daniel Sabsay, 11, compete for control of the ball during a scrimmage at the West Coast Coaching youth soccer camp at P.A. Walsh Elementary on Wednesday. | |
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Photo by: Lora Schraft | |
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Coach Gino Perfecto works with Owen McCarry, from Gilroy, on a shooting drill during Wednesday's practice. Perfecto was one of four coaches on hand. | |
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Coach Bav Thakrar plays for a team that was short a player during a scrimmage Wednesday. Thakrar is the owner of West Coast Coaching. | |
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It had nothing - and everything - to do with soccer.
"Hands up if you know what the true definition of a winner is," the coach, Bhavish Thakrar, said in a charming London accent. "What does one do?"
Like a megaphone, he echoed his audience's responses.
"They work hard," Thakrar said. "They're always putting in effort - that's right.
"They're always working hard and they always have to be prepared to learn and be open-minded. Winners make mistakes, not deliberately, but they do. Why do they make mistakes? So they can learn from them. Learning, effort and mistakes - that goes for school work, homework and your relationships with mom and dad. Think about that stuff."
Moments later, they were back on the fields, thus completing a synopsis of Thakrar's popular tour of West Coast Coaching Camps. Now in its third year, the circuit has already become a summer mainstay in Morgan Hill. It drew 45 South Valley youths during a five-day stop at P.A. Walsh Elementary School this week.
"We're all about life and soccer, teaching life lessons through the game," said Thakrar, whose coaching philosophy is centered on education, energy and enthusiasm. "We want them to enjoy it and we want them to learn. Summers are our passion. These coaches, we come from around the world to be here."
West Coast Coaching, a Los Gatos-based company, is a melting pot of international coaching talent. It's headed by Thakrar, 31, who came to California six years ago following a pro and semipro career in his native England. He earned a master's degree in education at the University of Liverpool and lectures on behalf of the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford regularly.
Thakrar's coaching peers are also his chaps. He is joined by Tim Moyette, 43, a youth coach for club Arsenal in London; plus Gino Perfecto, 26, and Mo Devlin, 48, who have extensive experience coaching in San Jose and Hong Kong, respectively. Together, they create an ideal learning environment for the kids, as spontaneous as the game itself.
"We want everything to look like the game of football - that makes our camp unique," Moyette said. "We want the kids to enjoy learning, and you don't do that by being rigid - that's not what the game is like."
West Coast Coaching campers were always on the move Wednesday. While Moyette's teenage students practiced passing through defensive schemes, Thakrar's younger players received a vigorous lesson in nutrition. Thakrar had them kick soccer balls into goals symbolizing fruits and vegetables.
"It's very important to be healthy," Thakrar reminded his students. "That's going to help make us better players."
Several parents sat and watched Wednesday, including Lisa Brookshire whose 6-year-old son Jack and 4-year-old daughter Ryan were getting their first taste of soccer.
"They haven't had any experience with it," Lisa said. "Now, they can't stop talking about it when they get home. It's amazing how they keep the kids entertained. That's hard for anyone to do."
Thakrar has passion for his work and makes it his point to thank the camp's sponsor, Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League, every chance he gets.
"Without them this wouldn't be possible," Thakrar said. "This is something we love doing. It's all for the children. They're learning to respect each other, their teammates, the game and themselves."
Beyond growing as kids, many players came out to grow as footballers.
Trevor Plummer, 9, a West Coast Coaching camp veteran, used the week to "practice tricks," while Mike Yamaguma, 8, worked on being a better goalkeeper. But what kid doesn't like to score?
"That's the best part - getting goals," Yamaguma said. "It's just fun playing with coach 'Bav' and having a good time with your teammates."
Although this year's camp yielded a smaller turnout that last year's (75), West Coast Coaching remains one of the most respected camps in the South Bay and Silicon Valley. It was recently named one of the top five most responsible coaching companies in the U.S. by Liberty Mutual.
"We have a strong nucleus of kids," said Thakrar, who drew 25 campers in his first year at Morgan Hill. "Hopefully, we can keep this up."
Wednesday's session ended with a crescendo - West Coast Coaching World Cup. Teams went head-to-head in a tournament while the coaches paced the pitch. Each miscue merited a rewarding lesson.
"It's okay to make a mistake," Moyette told one player after missing a pass. "You'll never get in trouble for making mistakes out here."