Jack Benson, a 10-year-old from Odenton, wasn’t going to let chilly weather and an overcast sky keep him from joining 200 kids at a free soccer clinic conducted by professional players from the United Soccer League’s Crystal Palace and Baltimore Blast Hall of Famer Mike Stankovic on Saturday morning.

“I like how he was not afraid to tell you what you needed to do,” Benton said as he drilled with one of Crystal Palace’s players. “He’s been in the pros, so he knows what I need to do to get better.”

The soccer field at Arundel Middle School was filled with youngsters participating in the first of eight free soccer clinics hosted by Chick-fil-A. The fast-food chain also will host its regional soccer tournament on Aug. 1-2 at Western Regional Park in Howard County, an event also sponsored by The Examiner.

But on Saturday, kids spent two hours dribbling around flags, taking shots on goal and scrimmaging before Stankovic spoke to the players about staying involved with the sport.

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“A lot of these kids, I mean, when are they going to meet a professional like this?” Stankovic, a six-time All-Star for the Blast from 1981-1987 and 1989-1998, said. “We’ll do whatever we can to help the kids have a great experience.”

But the kids weren’t the only ones who were included in the clinic. Parents were given advice on how to help their children improve skills and how to decrease the chance of injury.

“It’s a whole family experience, that’s why we bring in the parent clinic,” said Mike Hutton, a spokesman for Chick-fil-A. “If we can bring the whole family together and let this be a great experience for them, that’s the whole point of the clinics.”

James and Arlene Joyner of Anne Arundel County learned of the clinic by reading about it on the Arundel Soccer Association’s Web site, making them eager to bring their three soccer-loving children to the event.

“They wanted to kick some balls around and learn some stuff from the instructors,” James Joyner said

The clinic was the first of eight Maryland Soccer clinics that Chick-fil-A will be hosting this year. It is designed for children six to 16 years old, but some kids as young as four participated. Chick-fil-A’s next clinic is April 26 at Tick Neck Fields in Pasadena.

At the conclusion of the clinic, the kids crowded around the Crystal Palace players, who signed soccer balls as well as Chick-fil-A water bottles, which were part of a free gift bag given to all the children.

Carson Butts, 7, was among the many children who left the camp a little bit better at soccer than they were before they arrived.

“I got better at dribbling and I got good at trapping,” he said. “And I got really good at getting goals.”

Ashley Lewis, 9, said she hopes to follow in the footsteps of some of the professionals that she was able to meet.

“I want to be on TV playing soccer one day.”

avitelli@baltimorexaminer.com