{I received free enrollment for my son in Lil' Kickers Twin Cities fall session in exchange for writing a review about their program. Although this is a sponsored post, all opinions are my own.}

As the long days of summer were winding down, I started thinking about what activities I wanted the kids to participate in, come the fall. They are luckily still at an age where even though they have a lot of opinions they are also open to trying new things. Because they are so young we try to limit their activities to one a week. After talking it over with the kids we decided on gymnastics for both. For E, because she's been begging to do gymnastics again for a year. For B, because he could use some general balance and coordination help. And he loves the trampoline.

About a week after I enrolled the kids in gymnastics I heard about Lil' Kickers. Their Chicago team was bringing the successful program to the Twin Cities--including a location practically in my backyard, in St. Louis Park. As soon as I started reading I was intrigued.

Both E and B played soccer during the summer. It was E's second year and it became painfully obvious she really wasn't interested. B showed signs of interest but the program itself wasn't that great for B's anxiety. There wasn't a lot of organization and he really didn't know what was going on the majority of the time. With some of the emotional things that we are dealing with in regards to him, a lot of the time he is a three-year-old in a five-year-old body. And this program was not able to adapt well to a three-year-old's needs.

So when I heard about Lil' Kickers initially, if I'm honestly speaking, I really wasn't interested. I figured I needed to give B a couple more years before he would be able to play team sports. But I went to the website and started reading and realized I was so wrong--I not only should get B involved, I needed to do so.

According to the Lil' Kickers Twin Cities website, their focus is "highly creative, high energy and age-appropriate activities that serve as a great introduction to soccer and help children master developmental milestones, appropriate for their age." And, the line that sang to me, loudest of all:

"Because Lil' Kickers is first and foremost a child development program our purpose is really to help children mature on all levels. Our program focuses on helping children build strong physical, intellectual and emotional skills that will help them be successful on and off the field."

So, yeah, we enrolled B. We even broke our "one activity a week rule" to sign him up. We decided it was worth it.

Even having read all that and being excited about the program, I was still curious how my son would do. And my high-anxiety, worrier of a boy didn't let me down in the days leading up to his first practice.

"Mommy, what if I don't know what to do?"
"What if I mess up?"
"I'm scared. I don't want to go."

It's so hard hearing your child say these things. And there's really only so much reassuring you can do--they need to work through it and have positive experiences. So I was really hoping Lil' Kickers wouldn't let me down.

They didn't.

The "high energy" they mentioned on the website is no joke. The coaches are excited and passionate about what they do and helping kids. But they also are very in-tune with what each child needs individually. B can quickly get overwhelmed if you are in his face talking about how awesome everything is. They sensed that while B needed to feel the excitement, he also needed a little space.

I could not believe how fast B got comfortable. In the first ten minutes when they were warming up and doing some stretches I heard my son shout out, randomly, "I like pizza!"

I don't know if there is a better feeling in the world than seeing your kid succeed. I'm not talking about winning first place in every competition or getting straight A's in school (although, all wonderful accomplishments), I'm talking about these little moments. Seeing B switch from looking down and hanging on the outskirts of the group to being involved and contributing ideas made my heart swell with pride and happiness.

Blurry pic of his "I SCORED!" dance. Best I could do considering the amount of moving he was doing. Also, a good visual representation of my heart as I watched my son participate.

As the class progressed I started to see their mission statement in action. They played so many games that seemed random, but you soon see the skills they are teaching through those activities. Skills like: control, stopping the ball (not using your hands!), accuracy, and teamwork, to name a few. They also have a very good understanding of kids and their attention spans and switched things up a lot.

After an entire summer of soccer, B had not gained any skills. After two 50-minute sessions of Lil' Kickers, B had learned how to stop a ball using his foot. I know this might not seem like a big skill, but for a little boy who oftentimes seems more like a three-year-old, it is. And, I must say in a very unbiased way, he got really good at this!

I'm a big fan of Lil' Kickers and how they teach the fundamentals of soccer in a fun and age-appropriate way. But I'm an even bigger fan of the gift the coaches gave to my son. They taught him that trying is the most important part of learning anything. And they celebrate that. Sometimes you succeed (yay!) and sometimes you don't--but you tried and that's worth celebrating, too.

xo Sara