Six years later, Storch is pleased with the progress Alpena has made and the progress is evident in the increased participation at the Storch Soccer Academy.

In Storch’s first year, he estimates 60 players participated in the annual camp at Alpena High School. This year’s camp, which ended Friday, had nearly 100 players and the number has grown steadily ever year.

“The biggest thing about this camp is it gets kids thinking about playing soccer and not just during the season, but that this should be one of their focuses as an athlete,” Storch said.

Along with increased participation, Storch is also happy with the increased number of female players taking part in the camp.

News Photo by James Andersen A young camper dribbles a ball during the introductory camp. In total, almost 100 players participated in the camp with separate groups for introductory camp, a goalie camp, a premier camp for upper level youth players and premier camp for both male and female high school players.

“What I’m most happy with is the fact that there’s an equal number of females to males,” Storch said. “In the past it was probably 80 percent males and 20 percent females and it’s really close to 50-50.”

With a group of campers ranging from elementary schoolers to middle schoolers to high school players to recent college graduates, Storch and his staff were able to break up players into groups. Rather than having players move from station to station, each group of players stayed with one coach during the week. This was a change from previous years and Storch said it allowed for better interaction between the players and coaches.

“What we did this year is they stayed with a coach for the entire week, rather than moving from station to station,” Storch said. “That way coaches really get to know individual players, they know their strengths and weaknesses and what they need to work on.”

A good number of Storch’s high school players, both male and female, participated in the camp which was broken up into an introductory camp, a goalie camp, a premier camp for upper level youth players and premier camp for both male and female high school players.

Players also got the chance to learn from a variety of sources. In addition to Storch and his high school staff, recent Alpena graduate Alec LeTourneau, former college soccer player Rachel Peterson and former Central Michigan soccer coach Rick Trainor were among the guest instructors for the camp. In addition to passing on knowledge of the game, Storch said the presence of Trainor and Peterson will help the high school players get an idea of what it’s like to play Division 1 soccer.

The improvement of the youth program, particularly in travel soccer, has paid dividends for Alpena’s varsity teams. With the soccer academy providing a chance to sharpen skills, Storch hopes the continued improvement of the travel programs will lead to continued varsity success.

“Where you see it is with the varsity program. We had one senior starter this year and won the second-most games in (program) history,” Storch said. “With that many girls coming back and the continued growth of the girls beneath them, I think the girls program’s going to get more competitive and close gaps more and more.”

James Andersen can be reached via email at sports@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5694. Follow James on Twitter @ja_alpenanews.