Week 1 of a new session at Locker Soccer usually has a fair amount of new students in the program and we have always felt that the first week should provide the kind of environment that is inviting to young preschoolers. Often, new surroundings can be quite intimidating to a young child, and they often will have some trepidation when it comes to going onto the floor without their parents.

We have found that balloons have a very fun factor and will frequently get children to forget about their fears and get them to participate much more readily than asking them to dribble a ball through some cones. This approach has worked tremendously! Balloons have that capability.

In addition to the fun quotient and the overcoming of fear, the balloons also allow for great success in terms of juggling and keeping the ball in the air. Any time that we can structure an activity that allows for a greater level of success, we are increasing self confidence….this is one of our most crucial goals at Locker Soccer.

Think your child may be too old for this activity….think again! In one of my 6-8 year old classes this week, I asked the children if they wanted to try some juggling with real soccer balls or balloons….they all went to the balloons! In fact, my 9 & 10 year old found a ballloon in the house last weekend and they proceeded to create a game of soccer volleyball with the balloon in our family room. Kids of all ages love a balloon.

I would enjoy hearing any input you might have from your balloon experiences this past week….did your child enjoy the fun part of this class? Have you had other experiences similar to this idea?
Click here to see Balloon Juggling in action at Locker Soccer!

I was always amazed at how much value a stop watch brought to the table when working with young children. With a stop watch, you can get young children to do almost anything. Tell them you are timing them for any chore…and they will have at it in an instant….it’s a thing of beauty! Ask a child to perform a chore that they normally would not want to do and they will balk…..add the challenge of doing it within a certain amount of time…and they are off running. My kids can take the trash out in a matter of seconds!

I started running this 4 mile course with my kids when they were about 8 years old. We started out walking at a good pace for 3 minutes, and then running for 1 minute. We did this for the entire 4 miles. At first, they would start to complain about 2/3 of the way around the loop. I convinced them of the tremendous benefit this exercise would have and soon they were asking if they could walk 2 minutes and run 2 minutes. We typically do this in the winter as a way to just get out of the house. They actually look forward to our ‘interval’ runs. I love this activity on many levels….it helps to make them ‘heartier’ kids and less likely to get sick in the winter months; it provides an excellent form of fitness training; and it begins to set the stage for helping young children to learn to overcome certain barriers that they often don’t think they can push through. Great stuff!

Now…about that speed ladder. We have always used the speed ladder to begin to introduce running form and foot quickness to our children. They love it. One of the problems with speed ladders and kids is that they are always getting their feet caught in the ladder and it keeps shifting. When our current ladder got so beat up that it was about to fall apart, I decided to simply paint a speed ladder on the floor. What an epiphany! The kids are drawn to our new ladder like a new puppy. When they come out onto the field, they immediately go over to the ladder and begin running. When we ask them to stand by the side wall as we set up cones for the next exercise, they begin running through the speed ladder. I am amazed at the kind of impact this has had on the children. Anytime I can get kids to run without prompting them or pushing them….that’s a thing of beauty to me.

I am in the process of making a cutout for agility rings and will soon paint an agility rings course on the turf as well. We will soon have this in both acadamies. Get the bath tubs ready….we are going to have some tired, sweaty kids! I love it!

Welcome to the new Locker Soccer Academy website. We are extremely excited about the work of Honest Advertising and the creative energy that went into the development of our new site. One of our main missions with this new site was to have a medium through which we could share our “story” about Locker Soccer and how we went about developing the dynamic programs that we offer, as well as create a forum to easily and frequently interact with you in our new blog.

Seven years ago (2003), while my two children were attending classes at Wendy’s Gymnastics (they were 2 & 3 years old at the time), the ‘light’ went on and I had the idea that soccer could provide the perfect forum to help preschool aged children to develop in a multifaceted way.

The first thing I did was call Dr. Dave Fernie, a professor at Ohio State, who specialized in Childhood Play. Dave and I first met at Harvard University where he had returned to celebrate his 25th reunion. (As the Men’s coach at Harvard, I used to offer a free soccer clinic to the children of the 25th reunion attendees.) Dave loved my idea and was eager to get involved in helping to shape our plan. In our first meeting, he brought along Dr. Jackie Goodway, another professor at OSU, whose specialization was Motor Skill Development from birth to age 6.

During the process of writing our Business Plan, we met on many occasions to brainstorm on every single aspect that would affect children in our program. Critical things, like establishing a “routine”, but incorporating a “variety” of activities were discussed in great detail. While children thrive when there is a well established routine in place, they also excel when they are pushed in new directions with ever changing challenges. The stimulation from ever changing activities keeps kids excited and eager to keep coming back. The social and physical development of young children was paramount in every phase of our curriculum development.

For me, the discussions were incredibly rewarding. When I think about how much thought and consideration went into every phase of our programming, it’s just amazing that we had access to such brilliant child development experts.

After six years of working with young children in this environment, I have been blessed to see so many happy and excited faces. It’s incredible how confident and athletic these children have become. These skills will follow them in every single endeavor they face throughout their entire developmental process.

Our mission of exciting children is definitely being achieved! I will write frequently in this blog about many parts of our program that benefit your kids in many different ways. I encourage you to comment, ask questions and offer suggestions. Thanks for reading.

Until next time,

Steve