The 14- to 18-year-old boys, the oldest group at the Lake Placid Soccer Centre day camp, do dribbling drills Wednesday at the North Elba Show Grounds fields. News photo — Lou Reuter

LAKE PLACID — A group of youngsters who love soccer aren’t going to let any pandemic spoil their fun, or their opportunity to learn some new skills.

This week, the Lake Placid Soccer Centre has been hosting its annual day camp on the Jim Kordziel fields at the North Elba Show Grounds. The camp, which was originally scheduled for mid-July and pushed back to this month, drew around 60 young campers, ranging in age from 5 to 18.

With overnight camps of all sorts being canceled, the boys and girls who are participating are helping ring the 44th summer of instruction for the Lake Placid Soccer Centre, which places an emphasis on the Coerver coaching method.

Mike “Twig” McGlynn, one of the founders of the Lake Placid Soccer Centre, was working with the youngest group on Wednesday — the 5- to 8-year old Mighty Mites, who are half-day campers

McGlynn said the camp is operating with four pods, which enables the instruction to be well spread out. The Mighty Mites work together in one location, the next oldest boys (8-13) and the older girls (10-15) have their separate groups and the high-school age boys (14-18) go through their drills as one unit in another area at the fields.

The 10- to 15-year-old girls were one of four-age group pods particpating in the soccer day camp in Lake Placid on Wednesday. News photo — Lou Reuter

“It’s worked out pretty well,” McGlynn said. “We have plenty of room here.”

On Monday, Aug. 17, a downpour dampened the morning session a little on the first day of camp, but for the most part, the week has provided nice weather. The camp runs through Friday.

These 8- to 13-year-old campers go through drills on their own section of turf in Wednesday’s session at the Lake Placid Soccer Centre day camp. News photo — Lou Reuter