Soccer is my favorite. Seriously, I played competitively for over 18 years. I LOVE the sport, love that it is a team sport, and LOVE that you can play it well into adulthood. I need to sign-up for an over 30 program so I can be the young one…
That being said after being asked multiple times about playing on a “soccer team” by Raymond we finally decided we could start with a Little Kickers Camp to break in the game. Soccer at this age needs to be FUN and primarily used as a social outing-one that helps with social skills and to start listening to a “coach”.
Challenger Sports
I wrote about our decision in enrolling Raymond in the Challenger Sports-British Soccer Camps here: Soccer Camp for my Preschooler. I stand firm that he was more than ready for the Little Kickers Program geared toward 3-4 year olds. At an hour a day the camp was definitely long enough and all of the kids were sweaty, filthy, and happy after each session.
Soccer Gear
Gear
Indoor Shoes- you can buy ACTUAL indoor soccer shoes, but as his feet are growing a centimeter a minute we just went with tennis shoes. I wouldn’t actually recommend investing in indoor shoes until your kid hits middle school.
Water Bottle- one that your child can open on their own. A mom bought their kid a new “soccer water bottle” which was sweet and extra special, but didn’t have her child try opening it. As the parents sit on the opposite side of the field(and glass) it took awhile for her to run over during the water break and open it.
Shin Guards- Raymond is wearing a size for fifth graders-long legs-and I am thankful he was shopping with me as I would have purchased the smaller preschool version if I didn’t put the shin guard up against his shin. The guard should accurately cover the entire shin- leaving a short distance(an inch or less) between that and the bottom of the knee cap.
Soccer Socks- we bought this two in one from Target-socks and shin guards. Perfect for this age.
No Pocket Shorts- actually you can hook your fingers on other player’s shorts… yes that’s for older players usually but a three year old got taken down from a four year old’s pockets on the mean streets of the turf.
British Soccer Camp
For attending the camp, Raymond received a British Soccer Camp t-shirt and this awesome Size 3 Ball.
He kept trying to steal the 17 year olds Size 5 balls…. pretty priceless.
Little Kickers
I loved that the class size was small and definitely manageable. Day one there were five kids and every day after had between 3-4. Perfect size and just crazy enough to not kill their Coach Toby. On more than one occasion, Raymond would take off toward the goal and weave in and out of the teenagers to score-all the while Coach Toby would stop the drill to count the kids… 1-2-3-4… where’s Raymond?!? You see him mentally utter an unmentionable and then TAKE OFF after him down the field.
Raymond had his eye’s on the prize.
Like 8-9 times the first day.
Poor Coach Toby.
Warm-Up Video on Wednesday- Coach Toby
Laughing and making friends. Exactly what we wanted for his first experience.
Pint-Sized Soccer Fan
Emma Marie was a trooper and loved cheering on the other players and running the length of the field on the safe side of the glass. BOTH of them were exhausted at the end of the hour.
First Soccer Experience
I loved every second of Raymond’s first soccer experience. I am so glad that we started with a camp after having played in the backyard and park for the past year. He is tremendously excited to play on a team now this year.
British Soccer Camp Coaches
The Coaches were pure gentlemen and the kids young and old were definitely comfortable with them. As a former coach I loved seeing that they corrected players with positive reinenforcement instead of yelling… that is my BIGGEST pet peeve with sports.
Side Note: When I asked for their picture to publish more than one wished I had told them the day before, as their hair was not the way they wanted it to be… I couldn’t make that up if I wanted to. Soccer Hair is REAL.
I definitely recommend this program for kids. As a former player I would have wanted to be on outdoor fields where we could get in real big drills and tons of full-field competition. As a mother of a three year old? Thankful it was indoors and with an adequate AC system. The temperatures were in the 100s each day and poor Em and I would have melted.
Did you play sports growing up?
When did you start playing?
We grew up with my Mom coaching us in soccer and I loved playing basketball, running track, and playing competitive soccer.
Thank you to Challenger Sports for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.
