The coaches have always been great at instructing the kids through new skills while praising them for their efforts. They make sure all kids are included and leave feeling better about the game.
The program has been a very positive experience for my daughter. I love that each week there is a sportsmanship value taught. We have great families on our team that support the values the i9 program is founded on.
Coach Eric continues to be an asset for this program. I used to run a community travel soccer program as everything from Parent Manager, Academy Director, Travel Director, and finally President. I have been very active in premier clubs for my oldest son and have been around a lot of coaches. He is exactly what we would look for in a coach. Great patience. Great job commanding their attention and knowing how to handle several situations. Just like the kids, I look forward to working with him every week.
This has been an awesome program for our son. It's so nice to find a place where he can play flag until later than most leagues. Also, the kids and families have been so great! The kids on his team welcomed him warmly (they had played together previously) and it's been great to see their ability to shake things off and support each other when something doesn't go so well. My husband coached for the first time and had a great experience on that end too.
The sessions seemed unstructured and disorganized. They would pause for a water break after warm ups and another several times throughout the practice (they were only there for an hour and not doing anything strenuous or physically demanding to justify such frequent water breaks). They spent a fraction of their session actually learning cheers and doing routines and another large portion playing games. My daughter had no interest in the games because she wanted to cheer. And when they were out cheering for the basketball team, they spent so much time standing around. My daughter is 6. She wants to cheer. She doesn't just want to stand at the sidelines watching and waiting when they are only there for an hour. They could have gotten so much more out of their 6 week session. The way it was structured, it did not seem worth the cost.
I love the introduction to multiple different sports. It allows my son to try things out and see what he likes. The staff is also very good with the kids!