Middle Georgia State University head soccer coach Vinny Gill hosted a camp last week at Hinesville’s Brown Park.

Gill has a long-standing relationship with Hinesville Gator and First Presbyterian Christian Academy coach Tom Sukaratana.
“I’ve known Tom for, probably, 20 years, and we’ve recruited players from the area before,” Gill said, adding that the FPCA coach has done a tremendous job in developing players throughout the years.

“We currently have Stanford Graham playing for us, and we hope to bring in Alicia McCray this year,” Gill added. “And we are looking at Ausett Gibbs and a few other players here.”

Gill pulled double-duty last week, attending to the Hinesville camp from 8:30-11:30 a.m. and then hosting an evening camp in Vidalia. Campers worked on various drills and game strategy.

“Today, we are working on offensive patterns, and we did a lot of one-versus-one decisions and tactical things that kids need to know by the time they reach the college level of play,” he said during a water break Thursday. “I’ve been out here since Monday, and we’ve been excited about it.”

Gill is entering his eighth season at MGSU, where he coaches the women’s and men’s soccer teams. He said it became apparent to the MGSU staff that the methods they once used to recruit players when the school was a two-year college would not work if they wanted to retain long-term players now that the school is a four-year university.

“We have to start looking at kids who will graduate in 2017 and 2018, those who are good athletes and good students and plan to be with us for the entire four years,” he said.