Soccercampbytheocean

My daughter and her 8 friends went to Premier Soccer Camps in Carlsbad this past summer and had nothing but positive things to say. My daughter has gone the last 4 years. Every year she brings friends with her. First year 1 friend, the next year 3 and and so on. This year 8 members from her team went. Two others signed up but could not go due to a schedule conflict and the other one had an injury. Both received a prompt 100% refund. Every year Dennis Lukens brings in excellent high level coaches with a low player to coach ratio and they have provided my daughter and her friends with coaching that is 2nd to none. They have on campus a multi million dollar soccer stadium and a private beach so they are really as good as you can find. I now know Dennis personally and the last 4 years I handed my young daughter off to him and his staff. She has always been completely safe and happy at that camp. They swim in the ocean every day, play soccer, walk around the campus and I have never seen or heard of any problems or major injuries in the 4 years we have been sending our daughter and her friends. This year they were sold out so it is an extremely successful soccer camp business for all the reason I have mentioned. I have recommended Premier Soccer Camps and Dennis Lukens to my friends and the friends of my daughter for the last 4 years and will continue to do so. My daughter and friends will attend again next year in 2017. This is a great, great camp.

Nightmare! Last summer our club decided to bring 7 teams to this camp and so we hand delivered *, the owner/director about 90 campers at $595 each. He promised to pay our coaches for the week as they would coach their teams and he did not have to hire coaches. At the end of the week, he said he would mail the checks to the coaches. Guess what? He gave us the run around (one bs excuse after another) and, ultimately, only a couple of coaches got paid about 2 months later but only after we threatened legal action against him. We sent this guy about $50K in business and he rips us off! What's worse is that he promised soccer balls to all the KIDS and they were short balls at camp so * said he would have them "dropped shipped" to me first thing the following week. Again, I got the run around for about 6 weeks and then we finally threatened him with legal action and he sent the balls. My experience is this guy has ZERO integrity and I strongly recommend keep your kids away and take your camp business elsewhere.

*Personal information redacted by admin

This camp does NOT exist. He advertises not only under this camp but UltimateSoccerCamp, PremierSoccerCamp, NorthCountyFootball and more. This guy teaches the children nothing. He has them play scrimmages against each other. My husband is in law enforcement and we cornered this guy before pulling my son out on the second day. EVERYTHING the parents say is true for July 2018. I witnessed it all. Dennis Luken advertises he is a profession coach and he is associated with CHRIS MAKIN. DON'T believe it folks. We filed an incident report with San Diego State University Police. This is a very serious offense. Nothing he said about the camp, skills being taught, Nike soccer ball included exists. He brought in this poor girl from Argentina, Mabel, and then used her identity to lure parents in. She knew nothing of what was going on and also said he never paid her or her friend. He looks like a creeper and I wouldn't leave my child there not one more day.

What I know about this camp is that everyday my children called me from camp and told me how much they loved the camp and how much they had learned that day. My son told me that the coaches were great and really, really knew the game. At the end of the week they were returned to me safe, happy and tired. We selected their location in Carlsbad, CA last summer. We dropped off my son (11) and daughter (14) on the Sunday and the registration was easy and painless. My children got settled into their dorm rooms with help from the counselors. I stayed and watched as they did an evaluation of all the players at camp. Even though I am not a sports expert, it seemed very organized to me. The divided the entire camp into small groups and played small games to start. The Director, Mr. Lukens was in charge and he looked to me like he ran the training and the camp very well. The camp was held at a private school right on the ocean. I left my children and went home. When I picked them up to go home on the last day and drove home all they wanted to know was could they go back next year. We have already signed up again for this summer (2013) and hope to bring a few of my children's friends to Premier Soccer Camps in Carlsbad.

My son is 11 years old and a club player. I signed my son up for Premier Soccer Camps last year in 2012 for a week in August. I would recommend this camp to anyone who wants their child to get alot out of a soccer camp experience. It was my son's first sleep away camp and I was a little bit nervous. I found them online spoke to Mr. Lukens on the phone and then signed up over their web site. Everything they advertised they delivered. The facilities at the NJ location were excellent. It was held at a college campus, with college style dorms, very good fields, lots of good food. What set them apart for me were the instructors. Most of the time my son had a gentlemen from England and my son said he was the best coach he had ever had. I showed up at camp and watched 2 practice sessions and it was really fast paced with about 10 players in the group with the coach from England. I am not an expert but it was easy to see that the coach really knew what he was doing and spent time with each player giving good instructions and coaching. The thing I liked was that he demonstrated what he wanted rather than talking their ears off. This camp was top class in everyway and I would have no problems telling others about it and encouraging them to go. They have my backing, no question.

Obviously, by reading these most recent reviews they are not objective reviews but slander and character assassination. Some seem to be written by the same person. In today's new age you can write anything that what you want anonymously online and not be sued or held accountable. I have know Coach Lukens since 2009 when I first sent my twin boys for the first time to his camp as 9 year olds. My boys went to Premier Soccer Camps in Carlsbad for 7 years in a row. Coach Lukens has shown them and all campers nothing but kindness and respect. They started out as 9 year olds and did their last camp in 2015 as 16 year olds. My boys are now Elite Club players in CA with the help of Dennis and Premier Soccer Camps and I am on the Board of Directors of my son's Soccer Club here in CA. The coaches and program put together by Dennis year after year has been outstanding and 100% professional in every way. The facilities we among the best in California. My two sons went back in 2016 as counselors working for Dennis and had a really great work experience. I have have trusted Dennis Lukens with my boys year after year and they have always come back safe and with nothing by rave reviews for the great experience they had at Premier Soccer Camps in Carlsbad. I know that they have a very high repeat camper ratio as one of the great things about camp is that my boys got to see the same campers and counselors year after year. I give Dennis and his soccer camp the highest recommendations.

My son was to begin a week in NYC tomorrow. I called * to see if room for friend to register for tomorrow's NYC camp. THEN... I received letter saying camp was cancelled for inadequate enrollment. FIVE registrants only... for a one week sleep away camp?!... and how is it I was not notified that it was canceled until I contacted him... the day before bringing my son to camp...

We have also registered and paid for the Princeton NJ camp in two weeks... I emailed, demanded full immediate refund for this week - and confirmation that Princeton week is real... I have a bad feeling... But Denis told me personally in April that the Princeton week had 50 kids already registered...

* - if I have a refund - immediately - and Princeton is not a scam - I will be happy to amend this review - and assume that you just had some bad luck registering for this week.

Right now... I am v-e-r-y concerned.

(had to give it one star to submit review)

This is a week later... to follow up:

I did received my refund on the first week. It may be because I am also registered for another week in august. Also that I demanded it back and cc'ed three other families also registered for the august week.

I am certainly still concerned -... but hoping for a good week for my son and three other friends.

*Personal information redacted by admin

Dennis Lukens is definetly a scam artist, and also a creep. In the dorms, he wouldnt even knock on our doors, he would just open them, or try to open them if they were locked. He would yell at the 11 year old kids. He even shouted at one of them who was playing by the pool and said " what are you an idiot!" I dont think that kids parents paid 700$ to hear a grown man yell at their child like that. He was a grouchy unorganized man, he wouldnt do head counts, he tried to make the kids j walk, and almost got them hit by a car in the streets, he let 8 year olds cross the street by themselves. He barely even trained the kids, he just let them play scrimmages all day. Boys and girls ages 11-19 all mixed together. One time i caught him in the same room with 5 eleven year old girls from Alaska, taking a picture of them claiming it was for " advertisement ". Don't go to this camp thinking " hm maybe this one will be different " because ur just gonna walk right into another scam, and never get your money back. Trust me, keep your money, before its too late. Find a different camp thats not under the name Dennis Lukens.

For my family, this has got to be one of the best soccer camps in the country. I just signed my 2 boys up for their Carlsbad location for our 4th year in a row. The coaching staff at Premier Soccer Camps has been excellent each and every year. They typically bring back most of their staff year after year with always few new coaches to mix things up. I have come to know the Director well over the past years and Dennis Lukens keeps his camp extremely well organized with the campers supervised always. Every year that I drop my boys off, I know they are safe and will have a great time with a high level soccer experience as that has happened every year they have attended. My boys started attending Premier Soccer Camps at 11 years old and 12 years old. They are now both playing ODP in Southern California as well as playing HS soccer due in part to the time they have spent with Premier Soccer Camps. I have always recommended Premier Soccer Camps to our friends and to my son's teammates with many of them also attending in the past. I will go on record as giving Premier Soccer Camps my highest marks as a soccer camp and as a business.

We sent our Varsity High School team to this camp this past summer that was held in New Jersey and it was outstanding. It was my son's idea as he had found the camp's web site online. Our team trained together, stayed in the same dorm together and essentally did everything as a team. Our boys got all they expected and more. I stayed in a hotel nearby as I am the parent manager for the team. Sending 18 high school boys to a sleep away camp was a big investment and we wanted to make sure everything went well and as we got what was promised to us. I came over to camp every day and watched most of their training sessions. They had two coaches working with them most of the time. One was an American and one was from South America. Both coaches were fantastic. They really introduced high level stategies to our boys as well as signifcantly improving their skill level. I can only give Premier Soccer Camps the highest recommendation. I have first hand knowedge as I not only watched the training sessions, I looked around when they were not training and the staff was really were well organized and the campers as far as I could see were supervised at all times. Our boys only have positive things to say about Premier Soccer Camps. Our team wants to attend again in 2013 and we are planning to bring the JV team as well.

COACHES BE CAREFOUL...!

BE CAREFOUL, *, is not honest and NOT PROFESSIONAL!

STAY AWAY FROM HIM... STAY AWAY FROM HIM... STAY AWAY FROM HIM...!

NB: Coahces... ask him your money only cash and only at the beginning of the camp...
Often he give check but they bounche... and then he run away!
I STILL HAVE THE COPY OF THE CHECK THAT BOUNCE...

This summer happend already with 2 coaches and the same last year...

COACHES, BE CAREFOUL! BE CAREFOUL!

*Personal information redacted by admin

Like some of the other reviewers, my sister-in-law and I were promised a refund for our 4 boys several times over the past 18 months for the camp in Carlsbad. He kept promising he would refund her because they could not make it to last year's camp and finally after he kept putting here off over and over again, I had no other choice but to request my early bird fees that I paid last fall in anticipation of this years camp. I just could not send my boys to a camp that appeared to be ripping off my relatives.

We have e-mail after e-mail were Dennis Lukens says he will refund our money but then fails to do so and then finally says he can't really do it because of Christmas -
That he needs the money for his own Christmas and I thought "what about our Christmas - it's our money not his!"? He also promised that he would send my boys the premier soccer camp shirts they are supposed to get for attending the camp (he ran out of their sizes and couldn't give them theirs last year).

We would be interested in working with others to do a class action or joint law suit. Going to have to take him to small claims court and ask for legal expenses in addition to what is owed plus interest. His camp was sub par (it used to be good but has been going down hill for a couple of years now) and my boys want to go somewhere else after going there for 3 years (and actually they are attending an AC Milan camp this week - and that is far better than this camp). If anyone wants to file a joint law suit contact me at *******@yahoo.com. Let's band together and make him do the right thing - stand by his word and be honest. Enough of the delay tactics...

This is an outstanding soccer camp. I can't say enough about the quality of the service, instruction and attention to detail. My two sons chose to attend Premier Soccer Camps in Carlsbad last year. We live in NY. So I was a bit nervous about my two sons 15 and 16 years old flying across the country to a soccer camp they found online. Before we registered we called Mr. Lukens to speak with him about logistics coming in from NY. After we registered and paid we got a complete packet of infomation on what to bring, what to expect at camp, when to pay the balance and the rest of the important stuff. He had one of his staff meet my two boys at the airport in San Diego. His staff member (Sarah) immediatly called me to let me know that my boys had been safely picked up. Once at camp every phone call from my sons was only positive. They stayed for two weeks. Mr. Lukens and his coaches supervised the boys during the Friday, Saturday in between the two weeks of camp and kept them safe and busy. Once my sons returned home to NY they raved about the camp. They especially thought the coaching and competition were outstanding. In their first game back home in NY, both my wife and I saw a significant improvement in their play. They certainly were more confident. My youngest son had improved with the ball and both seemed to be physically in better shape. For me it was amazing to see the difference judy two weeks of training had made. We will return again in 2013 and have already pre-paid with their Early Bird Special. I would highly recommend this camp to everyone and anyone who loves soccer and wants their child to have a positive learning experience that is safe and run professionally.

Run, run, run away from this website! *, who runs the camps, is scam artist and liar.

In January of 2009 I contacted this website about registering for their listed 2009 summer camp. We corresponded by email with *, registered and paid to have our two children attend one of his camps, listed at occurring at a specific time and place. In February 2009, the location and times of the camp changed, making it impossible for our children to attend. We contacted * and explained that they could no longer attend and could he please return our money. He said OK and then had a series of excuses, "I'm in Europe and will not be in the States for 3 weeks. I can send the check then". When contacted in 4 weeks, "My trip has been extended. I should be back in the States in 2 weeks". Emails back and forth continued. He also then mentioned that he couldn't pay us back until he got some revenue from the summer camps. At other times he would just not reply. Finally, when summer came, I contacted one of private schools who were renting out their space for one of his camps, acting friendly and finally got the cell phone number of someone who was helping him set up. When that helper handed the cell phone to *, he was surprised and annoyed to be talking to me. When I said it was fraudulent for him to keep our money which we paid when we thought the camp was going to be at a different place and different time, he said he would have his wife send us a check. Finally several weeks later we got a check for 1/2 of the money he owed us. He said that was his "refund policy".

I wouldn't trust this guy for anything, much less providing any service that he says he's going to provide.

*Personal information redacted by admin

You should read all the reviews to understand this question.

Although my daughter had a great time at this soccer camp, it really didn't have anything to do with the program. The drills were OK, but, the reason she had a great time is because of being away and staying on a college campus not because of the quality of the program.

The program itself was disorganized from the beginning. We were told to go to one place for registration, went there and it had moved to another location with no signs or directions. Found the new place and stood around until they finally figured it out. Then I had to wait around to find out if the program for the girls was even going to go forward because they weren't even sure they had a couch for it.

But, that is not even the worst part. I was billed twice for the event. I found this out the day of registration because I was overdrawn at the bank. I talked to * who heads up this program. He first denied it and then finally confirmed and agreed to refund the money. It wasn't until 6 months later when reconciling my accounts that I found out that it had not been refunded yet. It has now been 2 months since again contacting * and I still have not got my money back. After many emails with little returned correspondence, he first denied it again and then agreed to refund it but has yet to do so.

In researching a way to find him, I spoke to one of his coaches and was disheartened to find out that he and others had not been paid for their time working the event. In addition to that, the corporation has been suspended for more than 6 years and he advertises sites that have never had a program there. This man cannot be trusted.

As noted above, please read all the reviews. You will see stories similar to mine from other parents who had financial challenges with this company. You will also see other see stories from the coaches about not being paid.

So, I guess, the question becomes apparent, are you willing to take a chance or would it be better for you to find another place for your kids to have a safe, enjoyable soccer experience?

*Personal information redacted by admin

"Dennis Lukens is a SCAM ARTIST Dishonest Company, Stay Away from this Camp"
They changed their name to: *******@gmail.com

Unfortunately we are now on the long list of families Dennis has ripped off and here is the step by step: We signed up our son Alican Sozen for two weeks of Premier Soccer Camp in Carlsbad about 6 months ago. In late May, Dennis changed the dates of the Carlsbad camp WITHOUT ever letting us know. When we noticed the change on the website by chance and asked for a refund, he said they will of course take care of it - yet didn't! After much back and forth, he even had the audacity to give us a personal check for the refund which he promptly stopped payment on, so not only did we not get our money back, but even had to pay a bank fee for his "Stop Payment trick" as salt on the wound! We have contacted him numerous times since, with NO response. He is a dishonest man and I would advise everyone to STAY AWAY from Premier Soccer Camps. The BBB or the Sheriff's department needs to act on this scam artist!" The amount he owes us for refund is $395. We need and will appreciate your help resolving this scam issue. Thanks for your kind assistance. Since I live in Turkey, I can not go to police or other law enforcement agency. I tried to send them e-mails with no reply. If anyone can find a trace of this dishonest man, or finds a legal way to deal with him, please let me know.

Ibrahim Sozen, MD
*******@yahoo.com
*******424

This camp was one of the best soccer experiences my daughter has ever had and we have been involved with soccer for more than 10 years. My daughter and her team decided to attend this camp. Her coach chose it and then got the whole team to sign up. It was fantastic. We requested that we be allowed to have parent chaperones live on the premises together with the team. The Director, Mr. Lukens allowed us to do this and we were treated very well. I saw first hand what a great experience this was for my daughter and her friends. The facilites were great, private school standard dorm rooms. Food was really good and the campus was right on the ocean with their own private beach. What set this camp apart from other camps that we have attended in the past was their staff. Dennis Lukens was there 24/7 and he directed the camp as well as coached the campers with about 9 other coaches. Every coach that I watched was absolutely outstanding, very knowedgeable and great with the kids. One example of their willingness to make everyone happy was that several our girls wanted to be 3 to a room and we did not put it on the application. During registration 2 male staff members immediately moved extra beds into the room that had 2 beds and made the rooms into triples. Seems like a small thing but it is an example of how the accomadated every thing we asked for. Another positive thing was two of the teammates about one month before camp were unable to attend and we were allowed to transfer their entire tuition to two different girls from the JV team. My daughter and her friends were 100% safe and supervised. I would highly, highly recommed this camp, I can not say enough good things about the whole operation from top to bottom that I witnessed in person.

CAMP DOES NOT EXIST! Ponzi scheme! We paid for a College ID Soccer camp at San Diego State University for a session running July 22-26 through Ultimate Soccer camp where Dennis Lukens was the director of the program. When we showed up on the first day it was complete chaos and complete disorganization with boys and girls ages 12-17 checking in and being housed on the same floor. No coaches or college scouts were in attendance. Everytime we approached Dennis Lukens as the director to question the number of kids attending the camp or the colleges in attendance he avoided us or simply disappeared. There was one coach in attendance from Argentina and she was not paid for her services. The kids were taught minimal skills were unsupervised and were left alone at camp for hours with minimal soccer being taught or played. Chris Makin was NOT in attendance so the itinerary that is listed is NOT what was taught or ever intended to be taught. Parents are demanding their money back to no avail and the Argentina coach nor her assistant coach were paid. Denis promises refunds froma company that doesnt exist or that he is the person you are emailing when you file for a refund. Nobody knows where the money is and the San Diego state University is not helping at all. Several complaints and incident reports are filed with the San Diego a state University Police department. This camp is an intential fraudilent act. PLEASE GOOGLE HIS NAME HE IS A FRAUD!