Footfire Summer Soccer Camp
Playing Life Academy, 1645 Fourth St, Berkeley, CA 94710
About
Footfire Summer Soccer Camp centers on soccer training along with skill-building exercises and games. Campers also take part in arts and crafts, water-play afternoons, and the Footfire Soccer Tennis Championship, which uses the Footfire Soccer Tennis Net created by Nigel Hill. The camp is described as a local soccer camp that puts fun first, where kids come for the soccer and love the food, and it has been described as “the family picnic where everyone loves soccer” and “powered by passes and popsicles.”
• Ages: 5–13 years old
• Schedule: Monday–Friday, 9:00 am–5:00 pm, operating at capacity for eight weeks each summer season
Footfire Summer Soccer Camp began as an informal camp at a local park in the 1990s and officially started in 1995 with a three-week program, expanded to four weeks in 1999, and has operated at capacity for eight weeks each summer since 2009. For 30 years, a community of soccer campers, counselors-in-training, and staff have created the Footfire Soccer Camp experience. Campers collect an annual T-shirt, exchange the Footfire friendship bracelet, and take part in water-play afternoons when the counselors are fair game. Coaches in training receive discounted camp and work experience.
The camp is led by founder, director, coach, and instructor Carlos Zensay Hill (“Luz Divina”); co-founder and director Caroline Duke, who is also Footfire Soccer Camp’s chef and art director; and program consultant Nigel Hill, who coordinates the soccer field and equipment. Carlos Zensay Hill holds a B.A. in Spanish Literature from Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Educational Administration from SUNY Albany, a National Soccer Coaches Association of America “A” level license, and multiple black belt rankings and extensive training in Shotokan and Goju Ryu Karate, Aikido, Capoeira, and Kajukenbo/Wun Hop Kuen Do Kung Fu. Caroline Duke holds a B.A. from Mills College, an M.A. in Asian Art History from UC Berkeley, and has a 10-year restaurant career. Nigel Hill is a youth coach and referee.
Footfire’s stated mission is to be more than a soccer camp and to offer a unique summer experience organized around soccer training with expert coaches. Its skill-building exercises and games emphasize play over competition, conditioning as a path to minimizing injury, and in-play interaction as an opportunity for gaining social skills. Using soccer as the common language, Footfire aims to build a positive soccer culture through healthy training in its fullest sense, with the goal of passing on the love of play as a simple, self-motivated, and organic path to learning.
Playing Life Academy, founded by Carlos Hill in 1989 after he began teaching martial arts in local schools in the 1980s, has provided martial arts-based entertainment and workshops to schools, community groups, and corporations throughout the Bay Area, and Footfire Summer Soccer Camp grew out of these community roots. One parent testimonial states that Footfire was “unequivocally the most fun camp” their children had ever attended and that two weeks at Footfire turned their daughter, who had previously had a difficult time getting into physical activity, into “a fanatical footballer.”
Last updated June 19, 2026.
• Ages: 5–13 years old
• Schedule: Monday–Friday, 9:00 am–5:00 pm, operating at capacity for eight weeks each summer season
Footfire Summer Soccer Camp began as an informal camp at a local park in the 1990s and officially started in 1995 with a three-week program, expanded to four weeks in 1999, and has operated at capacity for eight weeks each summer since 2009. For 30 years, a community of soccer campers, counselors-in-training, and staff have created the Footfire Soccer Camp experience. Campers collect an annual T-shirt, exchange the Footfire friendship bracelet, and take part in water-play afternoons when the counselors are fair game. Coaches in training receive discounted camp and work experience.
The camp is led by founder, director, coach, and instructor Carlos Zensay Hill (“Luz Divina”); co-founder and director Caroline Duke, who is also Footfire Soccer Camp’s chef and art director; and program consultant Nigel Hill, who coordinates the soccer field and equipment. Carlos Zensay Hill holds a B.A. in Spanish Literature from Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Educational Administration from SUNY Albany, a National Soccer Coaches Association of America “A” level license, and multiple black belt rankings and extensive training in Shotokan and Goju Ryu Karate, Aikido, Capoeira, and Kajukenbo/Wun Hop Kuen Do Kung Fu. Caroline Duke holds a B.A. from Mills College, an M.A. in Asian Art History from UC Berkeley, and has a 10-year restaurant career. Nigel Hill is a youth coach and referee.
Footfire’s stated mission is to be more than a soccer camp and to offer a unique summer experience organized around soccer training with expert coaches. Its skill-building exercises and games emphasize play over competition, conditioning as a path to minimizing injury, and in-play interaction as an opportunity for gaining social skills. Using soccer as the common language, Footfire aims to build a positive soccer culture through healthy training in its fullest sense, with the goal of passing on the love of play as a simple, self-motivated, and organic path to learning.
Playing Life Academy, founded by Carlos Hill in 1989 after he began teaching martial arts in local schools in the 1980s, has provided martial arts-based entertainment and workshops to schools, community groups, and corporations throughout the Bay Area, and Footfire Summer Soccer Camp grew out of these community roots. One parent testimonial states that Footfire was “unequivocally the most fun camp” their children had ever attended and that two weeks at Footfire turned their daughter, who had previously had a difficult time getting into physical activity, into “a fanatical footballer.”
Last updated June 19, 2026.
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