Q: What will my child get out of the sessions?
Sessions will encourage the child to learn new and essential skills and attributes such as ball manipulation & mastery, balance, agility, eye-hand co-ordination, numeracy, colour recognition, social skills, further develop cognitive skills, enhance muscle and bone development, increase self confidence and the importance of keeping fit through a number of learning exercises.
Q: Why is the session parental participation?
Little-Strikers beleive that children at this age will learn more from the sessions when they take part with a familiar adult i.e. parent/guardian. With the session requiring parental participation this ensures that your child is constantly involved within the session, the more you put in the more your child will get out of the sessions, practicing at home will bring enourmous benefits and is very much endorsed by us.
Q: Is Little-Strikers a competitive programme?
The Little-Strikers programme does not encourage any form of competitiveness, we believe that at this age children should not be put into a programme where they are winners and losers, successes and failures. The Little-Strikers programme places emphasis on the child’s individual development and encourages the participation of children in group environments & to practice at home which we feel is vitaly important, parents working with their young ones are the child's best coaches.
Q: Why does the programme not involve team based football for stages 1 and 2 ?
The reason for this is before a child can effectively become part of a team they need to develop the essential individual foundation skills and attributes that are developed by the Little-Strikers programme, ball mastery is the first step.
Q: What if my child does not want to continue with football after the Little-Strikers programme?
If your child does not want to continue with football after completing the Little-Strikers programme then dont worry this is completely understandable as children at this age will often change their minds, its a part of the growing up process they undergo. All the skills and attributes that your child has learnt and developed during the programme will aid them in their future development and will give them an advantage over the children that have not had the chance to develop these essential required skills. It may take upto 6-8 weeks to get your child used to our routine, once your child is in the routine you will very quickly see the benefits and know the wait was well worth it..
Q: What if my child just wants to kick the football?
This is absolutely normal for a child at this age, they are fascinated by the ball. The sessions at Little-Strikers will ensure that your child spends a large amount of time with the ball and the programme is designed to develop skills and techniques. We view repetition at this age as a must for the child in order for them to be able to develop the essential skills and techniques and use them naturally without any thought.
Q: Why are the sessions indoors?
The reason behind having the sessions indoors is because the children at this age have very short attention spans so by having the sessions indoors we can create an atmosphere where the children can fully focus on the sessions, another reason for the sessions to be indoor is that this way no matter the weather the sessions can always go ahead. With the sessions being indoors this ensures that they are completing sessions in a fun, safe environment. We also recommend parents to practice in their homes with their child.