The World Cup may have ended a few weeks ago, but soccer fever has not yet dwindled.

At Jim Thorpe High School last week, about 70 players attended a soccer camp hosted by the school, which was given the opportunity to work with UK Elite, a program that assigned six coaches from the United Kingdom to train the camp's players for one week.A total of six groups of players, ranging from age six to age 18, participated in the camp for six hours a day.Claire Lester of England, who has been in the United States for four months, thought that coaching the camp was a great opportunity."I coach part time back at home. I just wanted to excel in it and get a little bit better at coaching, and see a bit of the world," she said.Lester trained high school girls, ages 14 to 17, and said that she focused a lot on formation and defending."They've adapted to it really well. They were on board and understood exactly what I wanted from them," Lester said.David Fox, also from England, said his coaching stressed fitness and technical skills in the morning, then put both to the test during scrimmages in the afternoon."When they're spending that amount of time playing, you can't not improve, and that's what the game is all about," Fox said.He was pleased with the amount of work the children put in."The people I've looked after have done really well, and we just want to thank them for that."Jim Thorpe's head soccer coach, Tony Dixon, agreed that the players have significantly improved in just a week."You can see it each day as they go along," he said. "Fitness has improved, ball skills, team play, being friends. It's all improved."Dixon said that attendance has been growing significantly, increasing from just 12 boys in 2009 to over 70 players this summer.The key was getting the word out, Dixon said.Chris Geyser, president of Carbon United Soccer Club, encouraged players from throughout Carbon County to sign up for the week-long camp.Dixon said, "The way it's going this week...we definitely will have more next year."A number of players who attended the camp will head to Lawrenceville, New Jersey in August for a residential camp that operates for 12 hours a day, five days a week.Dixon was pleased with the amount of children who came out for Jim Thorpe's camp this year."Soccer is a great sport. It's fantastic. You have to be fit, you have to think, and it's better than sitting in front of the TV."