For many parents the holidays always feel like a bit of a curve ball. They creep up on us, sending us into a panic over availability and whether the kids will enjoy it! On top of that, we have to deal with the obligatory ‘parent guilt’ for shipping our kids off while we have to work. We get it!
At S4A, we specialise in providing a range of holiday clubs across Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire. And because we’re also school provision specialists, providing active education, we’d like to show parents the benefits of Football Holiday Clubs, which is facilitated by our sister company S4A Development. If you’ve never explored the idea of Football Holiday clubs before, we’re going to show you what’s involved, how to get involved and how to find a Football Holiday Club near you. We’re sure that once you’ve read about our Football Holiday clubs, both and your kids will be excited about the school holidays.
What Are Football Holiday Clubs?
Football Holiday clubs are a great way of keeping your kids entertained and active over the holidays. Especially if you’ve got to work or you have kids that love the sport. Depending on the provider, Football Holiday clubs run over the course of the school holidays and should contain a good mixture of exercises, friendly non-competitive matches, and lots of fun.
Again, depending on the size of the club, groups will be split by age and or ability with a good ratio of children to coaches.
At Football Holiday clubs the emphasis should be about developing the love of the game, learning skills and ultimately, having fun.
What Does A Typical Day Look Like?
Our Football Camps run – like a school day – from 9:00am to 3:00pm.
When the kids arrive they’re greeted by their eager, smiling coaches! They’ll take a register and organise the children into groups. Where possible we can try to keep friends and siblings together until they’ve settled in. For any children feeling nervous because they haven’t been to our amazing Football clubs before, we’ll distract them by making ‘coaches helpers’! They can help us set up and hand out bibs, and before long kids have forgotten what they worried about.
It’s perfectly natural for children to be weary at a new club. But we’re used to this and we promise that after a few minutes, children tend to forget that they were nervous. Especially when we employ some good distraction techniques.
Once the kids are settled in our caches will give them the outline of the day. Because each of our days tend to focus on a particular theme or topic, we will use this theme to build a day of activities. For example, we tend to have themes like, Attacking, Football Defence, Passing, Ronaldo Skills, Teamwork and Tournaments. Whatever the theme is, there is always a number of different activities – mini games, and breaks – factored into the day. These are further split into a morning session, and afternoon session with a break for lunch in the middle. There’s also a chance to refuel with two snack breaks throughout the day.
Come home time, no one wants to leave! We hate saying goodbye to all the budding footballers.
What are the benefits of Football Holiday Clubs?
Fundamentally, Football Holiday Clubs are a great way to kill-to-birds-with-one-stone. Not only are they structured childcare provision, it’s also a great way of fulfilling your child’s interest in sport and football.
That being said, our Football Holiday Camps are more than just a place to plonk the kids over the holidays. As qualified FA coaches and childcare specialists our coaches devise well-structured days that offer so much more than just childcare. At S4A Development we promote the following values:
- Inclusivity
- Social Skills
- Sporting Ability
- ABC Skills (agility, balance and co-ordination)
- Fitness
- Fun.
That’s why on any of our sessions, your children will be putting each of our values into practice throughout their stay with us.
Through a range of fun and engaging activities and friendly games, children also get the opportunity to really develop important technical, physical and mental skills.
Technical Development
Kids will learn fundamental football skills such as passing, ball control, defensive skills, and – everyone’s firm favourite – shooting skills. Each day, these important skills will be reinforced to build individual confidence and ability.
Social Development
We like to keep groups and teams small. This ensures that every child gets the attention they deserve from our coaches so that they can learn essential skills like communication, listening and working as a team. With lots of opportunity to enjoy free time, children will also get the opportunity to play and have fun. It also enhances their understanding of the importance of following rules.
Physical Development
Physical Development comes with being active. Not only do our Football Holiday Camps promote fitness through staying active, children will also improve their coordination, agility and balance.
Psychological Development
At our Football camps one of the things we love the most is to see children gain confidence and self-esteem. Even the shyest of kids will leave feeling proud of the friends they have made and skills they have learned. MIND also state that physical activity helps improve sleep, improves mood, and reduces stress and anxiety, even in children.
For parents you can also be confident that your children are being well cared for, and occupied with fun activities that they are really going to love.
Who can Attend Football Holiday Clubs?
Our holiday clubs are available for all children, boys and girls, aged between 4 and 13 years old (year 8). You don’t have to know how to play Football, or have any previous experience of playing. By the time your child has experienced playing and learning Football with us, we’re sure they’ll be hooked.
We also run a Futsal Holiday Camp which is open for all children aged from 7-13 (Year 3-Year 8.) Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football.
The small amount of space means players will learn to have better technique and skill. Futsal is fast-paced and more intense, with more opportunities for goal-scoring. Our Futsal Camp is ran by Rhyan Evans who recently competed in the European Deaf Futsal Championships representing England.
What to Wear to Football Camp?
You don’t need to go out and buy any specialist kit to attend out Football Holiday Clubs. Your child will need suitable clothing for all weather types (PE kit is fine). They will also need suitable footwear such as trainers or football boots if they have them. The only thing we highly recommend is shin pans which can be purchased from shops like Sports Direct for as little as £3. You may also need a pair of football socks to go over the shin pads and keep them in place.
Depending on the provider you may also need to provide a packed-lunch every day. All children will need a named water bottle which staff can refill.
Finding a Football Holiday Club Near You
Our Holiday Camps are ran by our sister company S4A Development. The team are coaching professionals with specialist knowledge of how to develop skills in children. We offer a number of Football Holiday Clubs in Buckinghamshire. If you’re not in the area then here are our tips for finding a Football Holiday Club near you.
Coaches
Always ensure that the staff and coaches have the right credentials. At S4A our coaches are highly qualified, have a lot of coaching experience, are all First-Aid trained and DBS checked. In our opinion this is a minimal requirement. You can ask to see this information before signing up.
Facilities
Find out more about the venue where the Holiday Club is taking place. Ideally you’ll want a venue with mini pitches for the younger ones, which will also have small goals. The facilities should be clean, safe and geared up for maximum fun!
Structure
Make sure your providers are able to give you a breakdown of the day. This should be organised into specific sections and should contain a good mixture of games, skill and sufficient breaks, suitable for ages.
Go Book Your Football Holiday Club
Now that you know what Football Holiday Clubs consist of, you’re hopefully ready to book your little football fan into their first club. If you’re in the Buckingham area then remember to check out our Football Development site provision where we run our Football Holiday camp, as well as Football teams and individual football coaching.
Even if it is your child’s first time at a Football Holiday Club, we’re confident that your child is going to love it! Has your child been to one of our Football Clubs? Let us know how they got on! If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us or leave a comment below.
