Before winning and losing games on weekend mornings, Stephanie Seale of Longmont thinks children need to learn to love the game of soccer.
“Some programs introduce the concept of a game at age 3,” said Seale, the director of Soccer Shots of Boulder County. “They really can’t deal with wins and losses until really about ages 5 or 6. Our younger groups do have scrimmages at the end of classes but we really try to end up with a tie at the end. Competition should be introduced more in grades K through two.”
Offering classes for ages 2 to 8, Soccer Shots of Boulder County is bigger than many of the other franchises of the program across the country. For Seale, it’s a full-time job but a rewarding one after spending over 25 years working in the tech industry. None of her coaching experience prepared her for life during a pandemic, however.
Soccer Shots has been on hiatus from in-person classes since mid-March, but its curriculum development team spent the downtime restructuring lessons to allow for social distancing and creating new policies to safely run the program, and a six-week fall season will launch on Monday.
“Due to COVID, we can’t run programs in any of our schools,” Seale said. “Our parks program was really kind of the smaller component of that and we’ve expanded that this year.”
To help launch its fall program, Soccer Shots on Saturday is offering a free lesson for individuals in its Mini (ages 2 to 3), Classic (age 4 to 5) and Premier (grades K through second) age groups at Prospect Park in Longmont. Nine parks in the greater Boulder area will host four seasonal programs this year with locations in Longmont, Boulder, Broomfield Erie, Firestone, Gunbarrel, Lafayette, Louisville and Superior. Everyone must sign up in advance for practices, but the opportunity to cancel after one session is available to all participants if parents find it isn’t a good fit for their child.
"The coaches are amazing," parent Korinn Taylor, whose two children have both taken part in Soccer Shots, said via email.
"Both Izzy and Des come home telling stories of the funny things their coaches said or did. They have much better running and kicking skills as a result of soccer shots, and I just love that they are getting good coaching at an early age," Taylor said.
Seale said, “All of our coaches are trained, professional coaches that are trained to work with this age group. We have a full curriculum that is outlined. A child can go all year long and they’re seeing new concepts and new skills each week. Most programs similar to ours don’t have a set curriculum. Our focus is on character development. Yes, we’re teaching soccer skill development but we're also focusing on things like respect, confidence.”
Both Taylor and Carly Wilkins of Longmont have children who recently completed an online course provided by Soccer Shots. It was an alternative for youths who had previously had soccer lessons in-person before the pandemic took hold in the spring.
"It's been really important in terms of my son being able to make friends," Wilkins said. "We're very cautious. We've opted for the 100% online schooling route, so were taking it a little slower when it comes to extracurriculars right now. The fact that they will be outside and Stephanie and her team are just so concerned with kids safety and doing the right thing that it will be as good as it can be. We just haven't decided yet."
Seale said, “Our goal is for kids to go on to a team like the Saint Vrain FC, because they already know ball handling skills. They already know positioning, teamwork. We basically will hand-feed those kids into a program where they’re ready for that next level.”
For more information on Soccer Shots Boulder County and its programs, click here.
