At Soccajoeys your kids benefit from a holistic approach to sports and movement
It’s school holidays time! While you can enjoy not rushing out the door for school runs in the morning, as parents you now also have the challenge of keeping the littles busy. Holidays are always a good time to reconnect with your kids and engage with their needs as developing little people. It’s also a natural moment to check in with how they’re travelling: how happy are they at school, are getting good amounts of the right nutrition, are their sleep and movement helping them grow to be healthy and strong.
School holidays is also Soccajoeys registration time! Term 3 registrations just opened and with a little more kiddie time on your hands it’s a good moment to explore the idea of enrolling your child into a soccer program. You also no doubt have questions, such as: will it add too much to their already busy schedules? Is it worth the investment? Will they enjoy it? What will they actually get out of it?
To help you make the right decision, we thought we’d provide some useful information on why registering for our Soccajoeys children’s soccer program could be a good move for your kids this year.
Movement is not only healthy – it’s crucial for development
Kids naturally love to move. And with good reason! Movement in early childhood is so important to their development that kids can actually grow ill and even depressed if they are denied this natural outlet for energy and important way of learning life skills. Our recent blog post on childhood movement highlights those important pillars of childhood development.
However, kids these days have a lot of screen time and during school holidays, when they suddenly have a lot of unstructured time on their hands, they just might give in to the temptation to significantly increase their screen time. The result is a major decrease in their movement and exercise as well as a reduction in their interaction with actual people in a social setting.
Spending their time connecting with their own talents and abilities as well as other kids while exercising out in nature are a few of the many advantages of a guided Soccajoeys sports program. Our child-friendly sports program is tailored towards building both social and emotional skills and is one of the best ways to channel children’s natural energy in constructive and positive ways. With the expert guidance provided by our experienced soccer teachers, kids not only burn off heaps of energy but also learn healthy coping mechanisms to deal with life’s stresses.
Children learn social skills in team sports
We live in a society that celebrates individualism and highlights achievement. This can be a double-edged sword: bullying is the dark side of this tendency and attention has increasingly (and rightly) been placed on this problem both at schools and corporate offices. In such scenarios kids who are deemed “different” in various ways – whether introverted and shy or just somehow “not cool” – all too easily become the targets of bullying.
In this context, a significant benefit of enrolling kids in a Soccajoeys soccer program is that it provides them with a healthy and safe environment to learn about tolerance, team play and acceptance from a very early age. Our coaches are trained to work with each child individually and acknowledge their personal strengths and characters. Children learn the fundamental concept of a “fair go” in a sports setting: to engage with both their teammates and their sporting opponents with good sportsmanship and above all, respect.
Playing soccer is good for self-esteem
Playing sports gives children an opportunity to discover their own strengths and make healthy comparisons with other children in a safe and constructive environment. Children are also given the opportunity to build on their strengths and given guidance to explore where they can improve. A healthy sense of where a child fits in with a group and what he or she is good at is the result. For these reasons, children who play sports are often more confident that children who are left to offload their energy in other less constructive ways.
Weekly soccer classes give children structure
As chaotic as kids can often seem to be, in fact children benefit enormously from structure and routine as they grow and make sense of the world around them. Numerous studies have proven that children who have routine and stability in their lives are much better equipped to explore their boundaries and develop a healthy sense of self, including the ability to distinguish right from wrong.
Participating in regularly-scheduled sports classes and being part of a team are both positive ways for kids to develop these and many other skills. To find out more about enrolment in our current term 3 Soccajoeys program, contact us today!
Term 3 registrations are now open – click here to enrol your child
We have childrens soccer classes available in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Newcastle, Wollongong and throughout Australia.
