Gwynn Williams of Challenger Sports

Club Soccer News: “The Soccer Experience of a Lifetime”

Challenger Sports is all about soccer - British-Style.

SN chats with Gwynn Williams of Challenger Sports and discovers over a hundred thousand kids enjoy summer camps with coaches from Great Britain.  The Brits come over to help our kids learn soccer?  Yes!  Plus leaning how Challenger Sports provides international soccer tours.  Oh, the marvels of taking a team abroad for new soccer challenges!

There are many summer programs for kids.  Here is one that offers something special.  Challenger Sports  actually brings soccer coaches over from Great Britain to the U.S. to coach summer soccer camps and clinics.  The company also is a leading provider of international soccer tours to hundreds of clubs nationwide. Challenger Sports believes in being a "TOTAL SOCCER" company that caters to everyone involved in the game; players, coaches, parents and clubs & associations.

According to their website, Challenger Sports is the leading provider of soccer camps in the U.S. and Canada with over 2,000 communities and over 100,000 players experiencing their British Soccer Camps each year.

The goal for many summer soccer campers is to have fun while learning and whether you are looking for a recreational soccer program or one for the advance player at the competitive level, Challenger Sports has a summer British style camp for you. The company is based in Kansas City and employs more than sixty full time staff and works with thousands of experienced coaches.

SN interviewed Gwynn Williams, Sr. Regional Director of Challenger Sports in SoCal who says, “The majority of us are from Britain.  We are proud of our soccer heritage.  When we provide the camps in the summer season, we will bring over 1000 professional soccer coaches into the US from Great Britain.”

“I have been with Challenger for eleven years and almost everyone at the company is from somewhere in Great Britain.”

SN: Why bring over so many coaches when there are great coaches here in Southern California?

Gwynn Williams: “It is the knowledge and expertise not the just the English style of soccer. Soccer in America is a little different.   Soccer players from Great Britain grew up playing football, as we call it.  My whole life has been based around soccer.  It is the entrenching in the game that is so important as well as the soccer expertise.  The passion for the game we all love.”

SN: Are your soccer coaches used to working with young players?

Gwynn Williams: “All our staff are professionally qualified and work on a regular basis with young soccer players.“

SN: How do you think passion helps a coach connect with a player?

Gwynn Williams: “Through inspiration to play the game.  Passionate, experienced soccer coaches can help players reach the best of their abilities.  We want our players to be the best they can be.  To get the best from the kids you are coaching, I believe you need to coach in a positive way. We do not believe in negative comments but simply positive reinforcement.”

"Challenger Sports provides camps for clubs and organizations.  We work with AYSO's, YMCA's, Unified School Districts, and many state and local offices such as the City of Riverside for example."

SN: How many soccer loving kids have attended your summer camps?

Gwynn Williams: We have had more than 110,000 kids participate last summer.  This year, we are expecting to grow to 125,000 children enrolling in our summer programs.

SN: Challenger Sports also does international soccer tours?

Gwynn Williams: “Yes, I am about to go off on a ten day tour of London, Cardiff and the North West of England, Manchester area with my competitive soccer team from Carlsbad Wave.  My BU14 team has won Forest Cup, Carlsbad Cup and were a finalist in the State Cup and came in third place in Presidio Soccer League AA Bracket.  We will play 4 games in total while we are away and participate in numerous practice sessions with Manchester United Academy, Liverpool FC Academy as well as other pro and semi-pro clubs.  Our soccer matches will be with Dartford Town Youth, Cardiff City Center of Excellence, Ruthin Town (a Welsh League) and TNS Youth (the top ‘League of Wales’ semi pro team). We will be attending two EPL games as well; Bolton Wanderers vs. West Ham United and West Ham United vs. Manchester United. Even I can't wait!”

SN: What countries do you take soccer teams to?

Gwynn Williams: “England, Brazil, Spain and Italy and other European teams. Challenger works with a wide variety of soccer clubs, college soccer teams as well as professional soccer teams and the Olympic Development Programs from the USA and Canada.  The tours are very popular.  We offer special promotions such as one traveler per every 20 gets to go free and the teams all stay in 3 or 4 Star Hotels in the world’s major cities. It is a lot of fun and we have arranged competitions with some of the best youth teams around the world.”

SN: What do you love best about your work?

Gwynn Williams: “Being involved in the game I love.  I am very fortunate. From day to day, I am able to talk soccer and I love being able to get on the field, even in my advanced years.”

“One of the best parts of my job is going out on the soccer field through the course of the summer and seeing all the children having such a great time learning so much about the game."