Over a year ago, we started our first 6-9 year old program at Adrenaline Sports and Fitness.  Our program is called P.L.A.Y., which stands for Playful Lessons Aimed at Youth, and I am honored to be the coach for these wonderful children.  In our program we focus on coordination, object manipulation, body awareness, and balance through game based activities.  There are so many parents these days that want their children to start training at a young age.  I believe that our program is a great way for these young children to learn athletic movement patterns while still having fun.  Children at this age are just starting to figure out how to move their bodies and what works and what doesn’t work.  This is a time for them to move their bodies in ways they haven’t before.  They are having such a great time playing games and having fun that they don’t even realize they are sweating until the class is over.  This is one of my favorite classes to work with because they have the most energy and are so eager to learn new things.

Not only is it an amazing thing watching them grow each week, it has also greatly improved my coaching.  There is a huge difference in coaching high school athletes and 6-9 year old athletes.  When coaching such young athletes, one has to be able to change the program design on a dime.  They have such a short attention span, so if something is not going the way one planned, one has to be able to change it quickly and effectively.  It has made me such a versatile coach and has helped me with coaching all of our athletes.  For me the best part of coaching is that they are also teaching me new things each and every day!