Last year, the Peace Academy of West Texas put together its inaugural Permian Basin International Soccer Camp.
The camp proved to be such a huge success that it was a no-brainer to bring it back for a second year.
This year’s Permian Basin International Soccer Camp will take place from from 6 p.m -10 p.m. each day from July 26-28 at UTPB.
The camp will bring together over 360 young soccer enthusiasts, 50 local coaches and 70 volunteers.
Just like last year, there will also be a former, famous soccer professional in attendance at the camp.
This year’s soccer legend will be former Mexico international player Luis Hernandez.
“Basically, our kids need to be inspired from the legends,” Vice President of the Peace Academy of West Texas Oruc Karais said. “We didn’t want to bring in the current players, but the legends because they have experience. Last year, we saw the kids enjoy learning from the legend and that’s why we reached out to another legendary player.”
Last year’s special guest was former Turkish soccer player Hakan Sukur who is famous for having scored the quickest goal in World Cup history from 2002.
“We reached out to Hakan Sukur again, but he’s in France right now,” Karais said. “One of my friends mentioned Luis Hernandez. I reached out to friends in Mexico and we were able to set something up with him. He accepted our offer to come here.”
Nicknamed “El Matador,” Hernandez’s career lasted from 1991-2005.
He played in the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cups for the Mexican national team, finishing among the tournament’s top scorers with four goals in ’98.
The 35 goals he scored for Mexico puts him right behind Cuahtemoc Blanco (38 goals), Jared Borgetti (46) and Javier Hernandez (52) as the nation’s fourth highest all-time leading goalscorer.
It’s no secret that soccer has a large following in West Texas and with the next men’s World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico in 2026, Karais thinks this is a perfect time to capitalize on the growing popularity of the game with the camp.
“Sport unifies people,” Karais said. “Soccer is getting more and more popular. especially with the World Cup coming here in 2026 … I played soccer, too. I’m a soccer fan and I wanted to help do something for our community.”
He’s expecting a bigger turnout this year than last year.
“The first year, it was a surprisingly huge crowd,” Karais said. “This year, we’re doing three days and have almost 450 kids registered. You see the people are paying attention to the Peace Academy and are bringing their kids to the camp.”
For more information, go to https://tinyurl.com/229y9whf.
