If you are heavily involved in the lives of your young children, it is likely that someone has approached you to ask for help running or organizing the activities that your children are involved in. Everyone knows the “soccer mom” trope, but if you are a soccer mom, you know how seriously you take that role. Here are five ways to make sure that your kids have the best soccer camp ever.
1. Have Fun
The most important thing to do when planning sporting events for your children is to make sure that all of the kids are having fun. Many kids are not at soccer camp because they want to be there, they only go because their parents thought it would be good for them. Even though it might be tempting to train the kids to win, winning games should not be your primary goal. Use this time to teach life lessons such as teamwork, discipline, and sportsmanship. Athletics should come second to the teaching moments that a sports camp can provide.
2. Have Snacks
Kids are notorious for whining about food. They want it when there is none, and they refuse to eat it when you want them to. In the case of the former, there is a way to combat that. Always keep a large supply of prepackaged drinks and snacks on hand at soccer camp. Give the kids frequent breaks for snacks and drink so they do not overwork themselves or get crabby as the day goes on. Ideally, the snacks will be as healthy as possible, but that can be difficult when dealing with prepackaged foods, so learn to be conscious of what you are feeding the kids.
3. Recruit
It is difficult to play a team sport if you have no one to play with, so if your soccer league needs more players, you need to find ways to recruit. Social media is one of the most effective tools to help you build your league. Some larger leagues are whole, functional businesses with employees, CRM comparison, and thousands of dollars in budgeting. Your league will likely not reach this level any time soon, but you should still treat your league somewhat professionally so that you can keep track of everything.
4. Learn Drills
Soccer camp should not necessarily be the same as soccer practice. The primary goal of soccer practice should be to prepare the players for games, while the primary goal of a preparatory camp should be teaching skills that are relevant to the game, often through drills. Drills help increase speed, agility, strength, or anything else you want to teach. People have spent many years developing drills that are most effective in honing certain skills. You should learn the drills yourself so that the kids can have a visual representation of what they need to do.
5. Use Proper Equipment
Even above teaching life lessons, safety needs to be the top priority for your kids. The best way to do this is by encouraging the parents of all the kids to purchase protective equipment, such as knee pads. Protective gear needs to be a requirement, so, if you can afford it, you should keep extras on hand for families who cannot afford it. Fundraisers are a great way to raise money to buy equipment for your less fortunate players. Everyone should have the opportunity to participate in activities if they want to, so you should try to provide it.
The sense of excitement that kids have when they are running around, playing a game that they love is unrivaled by anything else. As a parent, you likely know how satisfying it can be to see the joy in your child’s face when he or she is having fun, and helping organize or run a soccer league or camp is a great way to allow other parents to see that joy as well.
