Class dismissed: Preston Goldfarb directs his final Birmingham-Southern soccer camp
Longtime Birmingham-Southern College soccer coach Preston Goldfarb at his 31st, and final, Excellence Through Fundamentals Soccer Camp. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./Alabama NewsCenter)
Preston Goldfarb was set to close his annual soccer camp the same way he has the past three decades, with camp counselors handing out evaluations of the players who had spent a week or two on the Birmingham-Southern College campus.
On June 23, Goldfarb’s Excellence Through Fundamentals Soccer Camp ended differently. This time, the veteran coach received a Director Evaluation, part of a good-natured recognition for his 31 years of running the camp.
Preston Goldfarb conducts final soccer camp at Birmingham-Southern from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
Goldfarb, who retired last fall as the BSC men’s soccer coach, said he considered not running the camp this year, but others urged him to do it one more time. He accepted, he said, so that he could thank the many people who have helped him.
He would learn last week that gratitude is a two-way street, as camp staffers showed how much he has meant to them.
High marks
Once the morning’s 3 vs. 3 soccer tournament was done, soccer balls were aligned on the field into the number 31. Each counselor wore a camp shirt with the number 31 written on the right shoulder. Goldfarb would receive a framed shirt with that number embroidered on the shoulder.
Counselor Linda Amaya gave Goldfarb grades of “excellent” in most categories, including consistency since 1986, work ethic, hospitality and punctuality. “Twelve minutes early always,” she wrote.
She drew laughs when she gave him only “good” for applying sunscreen.
“You could apply now and then,” she wrote.
Goldfarb got his highest grade for being ready to retire. “And fully deserves it,” Amaya wrote.
Goldfarb reminded campers that they were to have fun and learn something new, and that each should feel good about himself as a person and as a player.
The retired coach said directing the camp has been a joy.
“I had the time of my life,” he said. “Teaching kids is the greatest gift anyone can have. And to be able to teach something that you have a true passion and love for makes it doubly worthwhile.”
‘I love the camp’
This year’s camp drew participants from 10 states. A number of the campers have returned year after year. Two of this year’s campers were back for the ninth time.
And the children of several former campers, as always, were part of the event. Oded Kenan remembered being a 36-year-old camper who came to refine his goaltending under the tutelage of an invited German coach.
“Despite my age, he allowed me to come to the camp,” the Los Angeles resident said. “The coach never showed up, but I stayed. I liked it so much, everybody was so friendly, that I kept coming back for 10 years after that.”
Continuing the family tradition, Kenan’s 12-year-old son, Billy, attended the camp for the sixth year.
Likewise, 12-year-old Anders Hughes followed the lead of his father, Billy, a former camper and camp counselor.
“I was here early when coach was just starting up,” said Billy Hughes, who drove two hours with his son from Fayetteville, Tenn. “He brought a new level of coaching, playing and, then, he breaks it down in the camps. I love the camp.”
While Goldfarb will no longer be director of the camp, the name will live on.
“It will always be the Excellence Through Fundamentals Soccer Camp,” said Greg Vinson, who succeeded Goldfarb as the BSC men’s soccer coach. “That’s the name that he gave it when he began it and that’s the name that we’ll continue with it for years afterward.”
