With cold, snowy weather just around the corner, it signals the beginnings of another indoor winter training season with Ocean City FC. Last years Winter Program had over 70 players aged between 7-14 years old taking part in the four-week program at the Euro Sports Center in Egg Harbor City, NJ. The Nor’easters are also welcoming players of High School age to hone their skills ahead of the Spring club season.

Players of all ages attended the camp where they worked on a variety of skills with the Ocean City FC coaching staff, led by director of coaching Leon Brown. The success of the program has been reinforced by the news that the majority of the players registered for session 1 have now re-registered for session 2 starting Wednesday 8th February.

Galloway Township Middle School pupils were surprised to see the Ocean City FC coaches (some of whom are coached by them for their local club team) as they were not told before hand that the professional coaches would be there. The kids took part in a soccer specific gym class, coaches Dan Ash and Steve Thurlby took them through a quick skills session as they were hampered by the weather and forced to take the lesson into the gym. Coach Steve Thurlby said "We had a lot of fun with the kids, there are a lot of different personalities that we don’t see when we coach travel soccer so it was nice to give these kids some soccer fun." Coach Dan Ash agreed "Some of these kids rarely kick a ball and I enjoyed the challenge to make soccer fun and interesting to those guys."

The Ocean City FC coaches went and took over Mrs Ruff’s gym class at Slaybaugh Primary School in Egg Harbor Township. Coaches Steve Thurlby and Dan Ash, under the guidance of Director of Coaching Leon Brown, spent 2 fun days with the 1^st grade pupils giving them an enjoyable soccer based gym class. Leon Brown has helped develop connections with schools throughout south Jersey in an aim to increase the awareness of a healthy lifestyle to the youngsters.

Ocean City FC coaches have been coaching local youth travel teams in the South Jersey area for 2 years and now the word is spreading about the quality and reliability of trainer they provide. The OCFC coaches are involved in team training with Atlantic United, Upper Township, Mainland United, Deptford, Glassboro and Ocean City FC. Ocean City FC have also been involved in Rec programs at Hamilton Township, Upper Township, Margate and Mainland United.

The Ocean City Nor'easters bought back some of their best players to be a part of the action for the Betsy Young Scholarship Fund Game at Tennessee Avenue on Sunday 18th September. Young was a long-time music teacher at Ocean City Intermediate School who died on August 29th after battling brain cancer. The scholarship will help musicians from Ocean City High School fund college studies.

Director of Coaching Leon Brown and Director of Club Development Dan Ash visited South Main Elementary School in Pleasantville. Both coaches accompanied by a few boxes of balls and gym sacks met with staff and a few children from the school.

We aim to work closely with schools and youth organizations in and around the shore community. By donating these balls to South Main Elementary School we hope the children will enjoy the chance to play a great sport and we look forward to seeing some potential soccer stars in the next few years.

Reading FC coaches Phil Griffiths and Richard Witt travelled from the Royal county of Berkshire to host a week long camp for the young players of the Ocean City FC Super Y-League and Pre-Super Y-League teams. This was more than a regular soccer camp, it was intentive, creative and looked at all aspects of what it takes to be a professional soccer player on and off the field.

Ocean City FC held a number of Summer Camps this Summer in locations such as Ocean City, Stone Harbor, Upper Twp, and Linwood. Over the course of 8 weeks the Ocean City FC coaches were able to help and pass on their knowledge to hundreds of enthusiastic soccer players.

The four weeks of camps held in Ocean City were attended by players from New Jersey, Pennsylavania, New York, Florida and even as far as Abu Dhabi. These players were usually on vacation in Americas Greatest Family Resort and had an eye on improving their soccer skills with the best soccer coaches in the South Jersey area. Below is a compilation of highlights from the four weeks of camp in Ocean City.

You can not only get the soccer fan in your life the best gear, but you can support Ocean City FC while you do it.

If you click on THIS LINK, you will be sent to Eurosport’s home page and for every purchase you make, a portion will go to Ocean City FC. Shop ’till you drop!

From left to right: Ocean City FC director of PDL operations, Stephen Thurlby poses with Inter Milan and Brazilian National Team star Maicon; Inter Milan players in training; Ocean City FC PDL team captain John Fletcher poses for a photo with new Inter Milan manager Rafa Benitez.

It was soccer madness this summer in the United States with not only the 2010 FIFA World Cup, but several high-profile preseason exhibition matches that were played from coast to coast. Teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid and AC Milan all came to the U.S. to prepare for the upcoming 2010/11 club season in their respective countries.

Ocean City FC was able to be involved with one of those mega-clubs, as they continue to develop a relationship with Italian giant Inter Milan. The defending European and Italian champions came to the U.S. for three full exhibition games in Los Angeles, Dallas and Baltimore and some smaller training matches against other clubs.