Sport4Kids puts Practice@Home Emphasis on Parents

Whether it’s learning to put your foot on top of the ball and balance for S4K Tots, or perform a majestic Cruyff turn at the age of 7, Sport4Kids is urging parents to help their children Practice@Home. 

Though skills classes run each weekend, with coaches helping children understand and execute new skills, Practice@Home has become a real ‘game-changer’ at S4K, and makes way for the next stage in children’s development. 

Mark Gould, co-founder at Sport4Kids, commented: “Practice@Home has always been a key mantra of the S4K Way and we have seen children improve vastly over short periods when their families play an active role in practicing the skills at home with the child.  We have seen so many positive results, but there is more that can be done. This is why we will be re-issuing every S4K child with a Practice@Home book so that they can track their progress. This is all part of building the Circle of Trust between the child, parent and coach – working as a team to help the child become the very best that they can be.”  

The concept is based around the book Outliers, where author Malcolm Gladwell states that ‘it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field’. The S4K idea is that dedicated practice can achieve amazing things and ultimately triumphs over talent alone.  This is based around the work of Matthew Syed, the former British table-tennis champion turned sports psychologist.    

Mark continued: Practice@Home is relevant to all of our age groups – even our toddlers, as by referring to the exercises in the class and using the same language from the book (e.g. “little kicks), children feel a sense of familiarity and settle faster. The important thing is to build confidence in our children through progression – more ticks in the book equals a greater sense of achievement.  Once 80% is complete, the coaching team will promote the child to the next class, giving them a certificate for their success!  By practicing all of the skills on both feet in football or both sides of the body in every other sport, we can create well-rounded, confident and capable athletes.  So come on mums, dads, aunties, uncles and grandparents, lets spend time with our little ones and make sure that they don’t end up as right-footed as some of our coaches!” 

So with the summer nearly upon us, don’t forget to ask your child what the skill of the month is, and help them Practice@Home. If you need any help on how to perform a certain skill, S4K have skills tutorials, which can be found on the Sport4Kids YouTube Channel.