Hello - I9 is a great program that we are truly thankful for. It’s family friendly and helpful with our schedule with how it’s designed. What keeps me from a 10 is that refs could do a better job of keeping the games fair - calling what needs to be called and not being afraid to hold the parents/coaches accountable for a fair game.
We had a situation for example with our age 9 year old group for girls soccer playing against the Wonder Women last Saturday at all shepherds - the main coach lady with red hair was on the field in the action yelling and very intimidating for our players to deal with. It’s supposed to be fun. She grabbed one of her player’s arms and pulled on her to move her at one point (think it was her own daughter but still), she has her team running up to our goalie basically every time even when she would have control of the ball and eventually our goalie got injured with one of the girls from that team stepping on her hand. It made the game very stressful with her yelling and dirty way of coaching. The girls were very pushy as well with how they played.
It might be good to have someone in your company observe this and check in about it. Wondering if it’s the first complaint that’s happened there. I would be surprised because I think us parents were very upset. This is 9-year old girls soccer… not the Olympics.
Otherwise - always are promoting I-9 and happy to have our kids in the program. Thank you!
The program is well laid out; great communication, and the fees are reasonable. The instructors seem very interested in coaching the kids and do an excellent job teaching, talking, demonstrating, and providing water breaks with the kids.
I like the simplicity of the program for athletes just getting started in the sport. One day a week is ideal for busy family schedules and gives the kids exposure to the sport without overcommitment up front.
The kids are not just having fun but they are learning the early skills of the game and its amazing to see them taking what theyve learned and putting it on the field. I would however like to suggest seporate days for practices or rather a seond day for practices. I think the kids would really enjoy more than one day a week. Some need it.
I really like the program at Westerville Central High School. Very organized, prompt, and there is adequate parking. The grass length was an issue for the first couple of games but appreciate I9 doing what they could to work with the venue and take care of it.
Our family is new to organized sports. I9 is a great way for our young children to gain skills and confidence as the start this journey.
The referees and coaches are great.