Child Development is Key to our Football Kids Classes

What is Child friendly football? Kids believe it or not, and those speaking from experience of our own will all nod at this, come at different ages, sizes and needs. Each child is an individual and child friendly football classes have to be tailored to each phase of a child’s development. Some children progress quickly and then plato for a while and then take off again. Others are slow starters picking up football skills gradually, then suddenly blossom into a promising talent. All Soccer kids enjoy the social interaction, the physical joy of kicking a ball – making it do what you want it to do!

Toddlers Love To Play… Toddlers love to have a football of their very own, they love the attention of the coach and the interaction with their peers. Moving from the apron strings of their parent to go forth into a group setting can be quite daunting, but then the intrigue, and the need to explore is overwhelming and you just have to join in… Group football with fellow football kids is an experience in itself. The group setting, listening to a friendly attentive “coach”, learning to listen, take instruction and being proud you have achieved the challenge you have been set are all learning and development opportunities. We teach colours, numbers, simple ball routines and even set up imaginary pirate ships, jungles and sleeping giants to navigate. Mastering simple instructions to go around some cones is a challenging proposition at this age. Mixing politely with fellow soccer toddlers is all part of a carefully thought through adventure and development experience. Mums and dads are encouraged to join in as they feel and provide support and confidence for their little one. Taking some of the routines home and replaying the sleeping giant or pirate skills routine can be part of this.

Find out more about our S4K Tots classes…

Development is the key for Three Year olds … Unlike some football associations at S4K we believe in tailoring the football classes to the needs of the child not the other way round. In our 3 to 5 year old Kickers classes we recognise that children need to keep having fun. To progress the football kids skills to their level of development not progress the children to our level of football routines. Child development comes first and the design of the football class comes second. The child needs to touch and love the ball for themselves rather than watch others. The Dutch have a saying that a child needs to have 10,000 touches of the ball – so sitting around, queuing, watching while others have the ball in large sided games is not going to reach the golden ten thousand mark.  This is the philosophy as our S4K Tots progress to be S4K Strikers.

Find out more about our S4K Kickers classes…

Five to seven year old Football kids need to progress … Instilling confidence is key with football kids at this stage. Controlling the ball, putting their foot on it is a special moment. When all your peers want you to pass it to them – you have control. You look up and choose who to pass it to. You are part of a team. You jointly care for each other and for the ball. Small sided passing games are the order of the day. Passing to space and individual confidence in the control of the ball are the focus of carefully designed routines. Football kids at this age play with the Futsal ball, the FIFA recognised ball for indoor football. The Futsal is only 20% of the reaction and bounce of a normal ball which allows the 3-5 year olds to dribble, control and play better in small sided games with much greater ease. S4K has invested in Futsal balls for all its classes and has designed routines especially for the futsal ball.

Find out more about our S4K Strikers classes…

Seven years and over love team bonding … Responsibility to their peers, the evolution of individual skills and the preparation for the future lives of our seven year olds are foremost within this group. The Tikka-taka philosophy of the Spanish helps our football kids fine space and pass to each other. They ping the ball around as teamwork takes over individual reliance. They have fun playing in a team context that keeps our children developing and building confidence.

Find out more about our S4K Academy classes…

The science behind the classes…. Child development and the psychology of learning is core to great class design and exercises. Everything we do at S4K is driven by the development of children. We all take greater interest in those things that are taught in a fun and exciting way. The principles and fundamentals of learning are very simple. We strive every day to design classes for our football kids that meet all the development challenges faced by our children. If you would like your child to join then please take advantage of our special voucher … … and sign up today …

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