Itty Bitty Sports

I mentioned slightly in my 'catching up' post that Jude was part of a sports program. This program is held through Kirkwood Soccer Club and is for kids from 18m - 3 years (or maybe 4 - I'm not totally sure). There are a variety of times to chose from on Saturdays and during the week. We were part of a Saturday class in the afternoon.

The first week we went they had to smoosh two classes together there were easily 50 kids there (so you can assume about 25/class). It was totally overwhelming and completely disorganized, but the kids seemed to love it. Essentially the classes are to help kids get into sports. It introduces them into throwing and kicking for the most part and seemed to touch on some other things. As the weeks wore on, a number of the participants dropped significantly. I'm pretty sure those pictured above were the only ones there for the last two-three weeks.

As far as organization, I still wasn't totally pleased as the weeks pressed on, but it got better. Depending on who was 'coaching' on any given day, the program was either more organized, or just a total free for all for the kids to run from one station to another. At the last class in particular, I was totally pleased with the program. Knowing that young kids can only focus for so long I understood them not being on any sort of schedule and appreciated the balance between group activities and just letting them do their own thing.

I origianlly signed Jude up for these classes for a couple of reasons. First, he loves balls. He throws anything round and about has a fit if he sees one he can't have. So, I thought he would love it. Also, I had signed Jude up for music classes a few months back because I thought it'd be a great weekend activity for him and Ryan to do together since I am always the one getting to do things with him. Ryan ended up hating the music classes, so I started attending them with Jude alone. However, right as we were starting sports, Ryan was working massive amounts of overtime, so he missed most of the classes. So, when the last class was upon us this past weekend, Ryan said he'd be there no matter what. Jude got pretty excited when he saw Ryan walking in.

Some of the activities they do are shooting on a goal, knocking down a pyramid of cups with a ball, walking on a balance beam, hoping through hoops, running through 'flags' and at the last class they were tossing balls into a barrel. In addition the 'scheduled' activities they have various things set up around the field, like basketball nets, tiny sized soccer goals, bean bag toss boards, etc. Some kids participate 100%, some don't really participate at all and some do about 1/2 and 1/2. We really tried to keep Jude focused (after all, we were paying for this), but of course he really only cared so much. Usually by the end we were beyond nap time, so when the bubbles came out (which always happened about 15 minutes before the end of class) I was getting Jude ready to head on.

A couple weeks in, Jude found this red and black ball with a string attached. At the last class in particular he wouldn't let it go. It was pretty sweet though, because it would keep his hands occupied so he'd kick a little more instead of trying to throw everything.

All in all, I liked the program. It was on the same day as music, which I would never do again (too many scheduled programs in one day), but it's something I'd love to give another shot when they re-start in the spring.