Kansas University goalkeeper Julie Hanley doesn’t plan to give up her starting job this season, but taking part in the KU Girls Residential and Preseason Soccer Camp on Thursday evening at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex, she took on another job title: coach.

“It’s great,” Hanley said. “It’s good coaching them. They’re a lot of fun to work with, actually. And I think it helps us as players to kind of coach other kids.”

Hanley gave three campers advice on defending the goal.

“Right now, we’re just working on the basics, making sure their feet are set before the shot. That’s important,” Hanley said.

The first session of camp opened Thursday and runs through Sunday. The 125 campers from grades 4-12 are divided into groups by age and ability. They have technical sessions in the morning, and work on individual skills and play games in the afternoon and evening.

“It’s a pretty good group,” KU coach Mark Francis said. “They seem pretty excited about being here, and they got a lot of energy.”

Francis added that there are some distinct goals for camp.

“One is to make sure they have some fun and get excited about playing soccer,” Francis said. “Then get some exposure to the college coaches that work the camp. A lot of our players are here working, so they get some exposure to the college players as well, which I think is neat for the girls, especially.

“And hopefully they’ll learn something this week that they can take home with them and apply and use to become better soccer players.”

Francis said next week’s camp is already full with a 164 enrolled.

He added that working camp is refreshing.

“I love the camps,” he said. “You get to work with the younger guys. College kids are fun, but the younger ones are so enthusiastic all the time.”

Hanley added that the camps allow the players to get away from the daily grind of running and weightlifting.

“Yeah, it is nice,” she said. “We get to play (games) at night, too, when the camp is done. It’s good because there’s 10 of us back now, so we all get together before preseason and play, so it’s a good transition.”

Following the camps, next up for Hanley is the team’s first practice Aug. 11.

“I think we’re all definitely looking forward to it,” Hanley said. “We’re a great team, a lot of newcomers and definitely some returning players that’ll have a huge impact. I think everybody’s really excited.”

Francis said he was excited for practice to begin, but wasn’t sure how the first few weeks would go.

“I know they’ve been working really hard this summer, and we’ll see when they come out the first morning,” he said. “But you never really know until you get out there. But we’ve got a lot of talent coming back and a lot of talent coming in.”

KU will open its season Aug. 31 in Honolulu with two games in the Hawaii Tournament. KU will face Hawaii and Auburn.

Hanley said she is already looking forward to the trip.

“I’ve never been there,” Hanley said. “It’ll be a great trip, but obviously our job there is to win two games.”