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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

ALABASTER – One of the most popular soccer camps in the Birmingham area is back and bigger than ever as Dan DeMasters prepares to host the Dynamic Development (D2) Soccer Camp once again.

The 12th edition of the camp will run from June 16-20 at Thompson High School. It is open to kids from ages 5-12 and will go from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to noon on Friday. Half-day options are available for younger campers.

In addition, the ever-popular parents’ night will return on Thursday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. where kids play against their parents.

DeMasters will bring his experience as a former college soccer player as well as a successful high school coach to the camp. Most recently, he helped Thompson win its first girls soccer playoff game since 2013. He also won three-straight state championships as the Oak Mountain boys soccer coach from 2015-2017.

Last year’s edition brought out 188 kids to learn from a wide variety of coaches, from DeMasters’ staff with Thompson girls soccer to former college and current high school coaches like Oak Mountain’s David DiPiazza and Homewood’s Shaun McBride to current college soccer players who came to D2 Camp as kids.

“You get people like that (former college coaches), you get younger adolescents from like 18 to 22-year-olds that play in college and they’re the ones that the kids kind of look up to and they’re their heroes and then you mix in some of the camp alumni that have grown up that are coming to work at camp and mixed in with some of the Thompson crew that kind of understands the culture that we’re creating here in our program, all of that just encompasses together ,and we just try to create the best experience and we try to do the best we can,” DeMasters said.

Campers can expect to play games like World Cup, Baby World Cup, 3-on-3 and other competitions for awards. They will also learn essential soccer skills that they can put to use in their personal game.

Over the past decade-plus that the camp has run, it has become a beloved and important part of soccer development in Birmingham. Some of the most successful soccer players from Birmingham over the last few years cut their teeth at D2 Camp growing up and now play in college and even coach at the camp.

For DeMasters, seeing their growth as players and people is the most rewarding thing about running the camp year after year.

“A lot of those Oak Mountain boys that had such a successful season, they came through camp, and though it was a very small sliver, it was cool to see them have success and they grow up and now they’re men going off to college,” DeMasters said. “Some of my girls that were seniors this year, like one of my captains was like the bubble blowing champion, and she’s become such a fantastic soccer player, but you remember those things and you see pictures of them, and now my daughter is coming to camp and I think one of the girls that was at the very first camp ever at Oak Mountain, she was five years old, now she’s graduating from Oak Mountain and she’s working the camp this year, so it’s cool. It’s a really fulfilling thing. That’s sort of why you do it.”

The camp has evolved over the years to grow in size and scale, and while some faces that DeMasters is grateful for like Oak Mountain assistant coach Keegan McQueen are no longer part of the camp, he is excited to see the kids continue to develop and use the week to improve as players.

“As I’m getting older and you’re seeing the kids getting better and developing, it’s only a week of the year so you don’t think that you have an impact because one week out of 52 weeks of the year, you’re just thinking it’s a week of fun and gets the kids to kind of be in a different atmosphere, but I think when you see the kids developing each and every year, they’re getting taller and stronger and like just striking the ball better, that’s a very satisfying thing and rewarding thing I think as a coach,” DeMasters said.

Registration is open online at Dynamicdevelopmentcamps.com, and the cost to attend the regular camp is $230. A special Elite Group for 10-to-12-year-olds who want to receive high level training is available for $250.