(Guest post from Coach Alia at Soccer Shots Los Angeles)
Encouragement is the gift that every child should receive. Although this statement seems obvious, encouragement really does make a difference in a child’s life.
I was coaching at Life House Preschool and about two sessions into the program a new child enrolled in my class and I was absolutely thrilled! The kid who was new to the class seemed apprehensive about playing soccer however he came along and attempted to play in all the games. About midway into the session I noticed that he was crying and I went over to him to see what was wrong. He informed me that he was sad because he did not think his mom would pick him up after lunch. I informed him that he had nothing to worry about because he would see his mom soon.
During this situation I saw more than the need for his mother, I also saw a kid who was easily upset and scared. I could easily relate to this child because when I was younger I was very much like him. I was very shy and was often afraid to talk to other people so I was quiet and kept to myself. What really helped me when I was younger was to have somebody encourage me and let me know I was doing a good job in whatever I was doing.
I knew that this child needed encouragement.
What made the situation even more perfect was the fact that the word of the week was encouragement! During the session I explained what encouragement was and had all the kids cheer for one another throughout the session. At the end of the session I also had everyone clap for this kid to show him that he did an amazing job that day at soccer.
During the following week to my surprise this kid did not cry at all!
Instead he was laughing and having a great time throughout the whole class.
I was very excited about this because I know that the other kid’s encouraging words made a difference in this child’s life. It doesn’t take much to encourage a child but it can make an enormous impact on their life in a positive manner. Each and every day, no matter how small it is, encourage a child. It may seem trivial however it can make giant impact in a child’s life.
(Guest post from Coach Alyssa at Soccer Shots Los Angeles)
As I teach Week One curriculum to my soccer kids, I can’t help but hum “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” in my head a little bit each time. When I ask the kids to define respect, I get a myriad of answers, ranging from, “do what’s right” to “treat other people nicely”.
In the back of my head, I hear my own parents reminding me to treat other people the way I want to be treated.
This past week, I began a mini-season at a preschool in the San Fernando Valley, where other students have already been enrolled with another coach at a different time. The school and the students were warm, inviting, and welcomed me right away. As I gathered the students, and walked over to the field, a child and their parent approached me. The child was visibly upset and kept saying they didn’t want to play. Their parent explained that they had taken their iPhone from the child, as it was time to play soccer, but this had caused the young boy to get upset. I responded that it was quite alright, and we could give him some time to watch, calm down, and join in at his own pace. His parent even participated in the warm up with us, to show him that soccer would be much more fun than the iPhone. As the child watched his parent hop around, pretend to be a tree swaying in the wind, and run from sideline to sideline, the tears kept streaming down his face.
After warm up, the parent and I agreed that the child could sit by my equipment, while they went and sat somewhere else. We talked about control or stop position, and passed out soccer balls; I even made sure to give that boy his own ball to ponder joining us. As we played one of my favorite games, the “Body Part Game,” in which the kids have to stop the ball with various parts of their body, he began to smile. We stopped the ball with our noses, and our ears, and our elbows. Soon he was laughing with us as we all stopped the ball with our bottom!
Huddled together, I took this time to ask the kids if they knew anything about the word “Respect.”
Another child raised their hand, and said “treating other people nice.”
I commended this response, as oftentimes I get blank stares when I ask kids to explain the meaning of a character word. I then asked all the kids to repeat after me, “treating others the way you want to be treated” and “treating others the right way”. Next, I took
time explaining that in the next game we would all get a chance to score a goal, but we had to practice respect by watching our friends and cheering for them, so they would do the same for us.
I looked over to my equipment, where the child had been sitting, and now he was standing, almost ready to join us. I asked him if he wanted to join us, but he was still hesitant, so we started taking turns cheering and scoring goals. After every one had gone once, he spoke up, saying he’d like to go now. Of course we high fived and we all cheered for him as he dribbled down the field and scored a goal. We did this one more time each, as the group was relatively small, and this child got to and wanted to go first!
I gave each child a high five and thanked them for respecting their friend, letting him take his time to join us, and then making him feel welcome when he did join us.
It was a subtle, yet poignant reminder that we are all a little different, take our own time to warm up to things, and deserve to be respected for that! It just so happened that respect was also the character word of the day.
The kids even shared cones as they collected them at the end of practice, another great way of showing respect!
As I left that day, the boy shouted to me, “See you next week for soccer!”
(Guest post from Coach Matthew at Soccer Shots Los Angeles)
Character Word of the Day: Sharing
The class with “SHARING” as the character building word is one of my most rewarding as well as one of the most challenging. Many 3-5 year old children are at the stage where everything is “Mine”. To reinforce the concept of SHARING, I instituted two exercises back to back. I began with explaining the definitions of SHARING. In one instance, a child (who we will call “Danny”) who typically grabs for the white soccer ball and never gives it up, explains to my surprise that SHARING IS CARING. I initially wondered if this would actually translate into practice for this little boy.
That day, I started out with a Halloween game where I throw all the cones onto the field and tell them that all these colorful cones are treats and their job is to dribble to each cone, control the ball, and pick it up. The object is to pick up the most cones. When all the treats are collected we sit in a circle and count how many cones each child has. “Danny” happened to pick up the least amount of cones and was visibly upset. So I said to the group, “who wants to share”? Three children gave him cones! Then I had each child share a treat with another child. Of course after someone shared, the recipient had to say “thank you” and give a high five. We kept doing this until everyone was laughing and high fiving one another.
The next game was going to be the big test. This was the exercise called “Switch” where the children dribble, and when I whistle, everyone runs to another soccer ball because we all SHARE. “Danny” was a little hesitant in giving up his ball until we reminded him about our friends that shared their cones. After that reminder “Danny” enjoyed sharing with his friends because SHARING IS CARING! His Mom even reported that “Danny” shares better at home with his siblings.
“Coaches are, first and foremost, teachers; they are among the most influential people in a young athlete’s life. Because coach’s are such powerful role models, young athletes learn more from them about character that about athletic performance.” – Unknown
In addition to teaching basic soccer skills, our newly designed curriculum places a high emphasis on character building and even offers a Character Word Of The Day. In this short clip Coach Alyssa demonstrates her creativity in reinforcing the “word of the day” as part of the team cheer at the end of the session.
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Soccer Shots is a leader in youth soccer development for children ages 3-5 & 6-8.
Offered at preschools, daycare centers, and parks, our nationally recognized non-competitive skills program offers a high energy, fun, age-appropriate introduction to the wonderful game of soccer.
Soccer Shots is owned and directed by Rian Heim and his wife Alyssa. Their passion for soccer and working with youth was their motivation for bringing Soccer Shots to Los Angeles. 2011 marks the fourth year that Rian and Alyssa have been running Soccer Shots here in Los Angeles. Together they make every effort to deliver a solid program that children, parents, and schools will benefit from and enjoy. They currently live in Playa Del Rey with their one year old son Charlie and dog Buddy.
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