Zoom zoom…Happy feet and beyond!
I was doing a happy feet session this afternoon in peel and watching a young boy called torin racing around the perimeter of the pitch before we started. as i smiled to myself at his pure joy of charging around on his own, enjoying the space and the feeling of being completely free it made me think back to another little boy who used to do exactly the same thing.
The little boy i was thinking of was albiE. as a 3 year old he was mega fast, and all he wanted to do in the happy feet sessions was have races, particularly with me. he loved running as fast as he could. football to him was about having opportunity to race and run quickly as many times as he could during the hour. often he wasn’t interested in the football, in playing games with the other children, unless it involved racing!
What’s great about this is that mum and grandad encouraged him to take part but never worried about him just wanting to race (all the time!).
They smiled and let albiE be albiE.
Importantly for me they let him enjoy his happy feet sessions and get what he wanted out of them at that time. he was learning to co-operate, to play with others, to follow instructions, to move in different ways, to stop and go, to change direction, to play with a ball, to throw and catch…but sporadically, his attention was mostly on racing!
Understandably lots of parents will watch a session and worry about their child not listening, not wanting to join in with certain activities, not being great at taking turns etc etc.
But what’s most important for us is that they’re associating football, being physically active, with something positive to them, with something they love to do. this is where we start a life long engagement and love of sport, of being fit and healthy. (hopefully of playing football!)
So if your child isn’t showing much interest in playing football but enjoys the sessions, don’t worry, they all get their at their own pace! our initial job is to make sure they’re getting something from the sessions that they love to do, so that they want to come back next week - that’s what creating the perfect place in football for everyone means!
and where is albiE now? well He’s in our sparks program for under 8’s, he loves having a ball at his feet, he has fantastic skill. he practices every day - and he still loves to run really fast!
