First FHS Soccer Camp draws 48, coaches from around the nation

Led by current and recently graduated Farragut High School players, plus college players playing locally for new Knox County soccer club team, One Knoxville SC — including one from California and one from New York — the first FHS Soccer Camp drew 48 girls and boys ages 7 to 13 to the program’s Farragut Intermediate School Stadium field for the four-day camp, which ended Friday, June 3. One of those One Knox players, Bryson Hankins from Cal-State University Bakersfield, said he had been in the area “about four weeks, and honestly I love the area.” He was joined by fellow One Knox/college players Amferny Arias from Syracuse University, goalkeeper Ryan Troutman and local product Cameron Fowler, ex-Webb Spartans star now playing at UNC-Greensboro. “For me, growing up, I would always look up to the college players and future pro players, (saying) ‘I want to be like them someday.’ So now that I’m kind of in this situation, I feel obligated internally that I want to give back to these kids,” Troutman said.

Camp was organized by FHS girls soccer head coach Kristen Lyons, far right, and jointly run by Lyons and Ads boys head coach Bradley Culbreth, far left. “... I had not heard of a (soccer) camp in the actual Farragut community for a very long time,” Lyons said, “and so I wanted to restart that and offer something that brought the Farragut community together at the younger ages so we could start to build our feeder programs. ...”