“Over 70,000 campers have gone through our youth soccer camps in Lake Placid and at St. Lawrence University,” LPSC co-founder Mike McGlynn said. “We are inviting any former campers to join us for a full slate of soccer activities the week of July 12-17, summer 2026, including two FIFA World Cup watch parties during the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup.

“If you went to camp sometime over the past 50 years, bring your grand kids to allow them to enjoy a day camp July 13-17 in Lake Placid and join us at a coach clinic about youth soccer skills, ‘The Coerver Coaching Method’ and our main Golden Anniversary celebration on Thursday 16 in Lake Placid,” he added.

During the youth soccer camps, the core focus is on individual player development and improvement using the Coerver Coaching Method. Lake Placid Soccer Centre had a unique role in the startup and beginnings of this method at our Lake Placid camp sites in the mid-1980s. Coerver Coaching is now a full-time program in over 20 countries across the world. In Scandinavia alone, 20,000 youth soccer athletes attend year-long training sessions. The Co-Founder of The Coerver Coaching Method, Alfred Galustian, will offer a coaches’ clinic during the Golden Anniversary week.

A third element of the soccer vacation week will be an adult FIFA World Cup Watch Party 5-a-side Tournament on the North Elba Athletic Fields that allows soccer people to get together, play some ball and watch the two FIFA semifinals on Tuesday, July 14 and Wednesday, July 15.

This adult tournament aims to be a reunion event for all teams that competed in the indoor soccer tournaments we organized on astroturf in the three rinks of the Olympic Center, plus interested soccer groups from all over North America.

The Soccer America Dawn to Dark Festival & indoor soccer tournament had more than 5,000 adult soccer players competing. The D2D indoor soccer event ran from 1981 to 2007.

“This soccer tournament had many ex-World Cup national team members as well as some up-and-coming players like Kristine Lilly playing on the Lake Placid rinks from 7 a.m. to midnight over four days,” McGlynn said. “The level of camaraderie that was experienced at the Dawn to Dark event is something we would like to rekindle for the two days of the FIFA semifinals watch parties.”

During our 40th anniversary of the LPSC, there were more than 75 people who traveled from Europe to Lake Placid to reconnect with each other. For the 50th LPSC Celebration, the group has opened the invite list to former campers, all staff who can come enjoy what the Adirondack Region has to offer with golf, hiking, Olympic venue sightseeing, boating and dining.

Details about this soccer vacation and the various options will be developed over the next few weeks and into 2026, with housing and registration options for interested soccer people.

For more information contact McGlynn at coach@lakeplacidsoccer, or visit lakeplacidsoccer.com. Aspects of the overall soccer week develop and the slate of youth soccer camps next summer at St. Lawrence University. Overnight camp dates are July 19-25, 2026.