Top Baseball Stores in Phoenix, AZ 85086
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Beginners Edge Sports Training
By momou18 August 12, 2013
trying to register online. ...read more
Beginners Edge Sports Training
By John Glossone October 13, 2009
We really love SoccerTots as well as Lil Sluggers Baseball and SlamDunkerz. Our Children have done them all and will continue as long as they love sports. We have been with Beginners Edge Sports Training for the past 3 years and all three of our children have or are participating. Coaches do change from session to session and although its hard for us to get used to that our kids love them all. All their Coaches are PAID to be there - not volunteer like AYSO or NYS or even I9. We tried those and were dissapointed. Try them out we say...we hope you have a good time like we are. ...read more
Beginners Edge Sports Training
By T Glass Creations May 19, 2009
Start your kids out in the right direction with Soccertots and Lilsluggers. They offer B.E.S.T. soccer, baseball or basketball to develop your children and their love of sports using fun games and other activities. The outlook they take through non-competitive games teaches your children the skills to not only succeed in sports but these skills will help them in other areas of life as they grow up. Soccertots & Lilsluggers offers locations and classes all around the Valley of the Sun including Queen Creek, Arizona. Our Children are our future and with caring adults to mentor them like Soccertots & Lilsluggers, we are well on our way to a great future for our Country. Thank you Soccertots & Lilsluggers! Tova Rogers – T Glass Creations Sea Glass Beach Jewelry http://tglass.synthasite.com/ ...read more
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The BEST ways to get your kids active in Sports.
"Playing" A Sport Not all children want or need to compete to be successful by Scott Hoover Running a parenting magazine I talk with lots of parents. One of the questions that I have been hearing lately is "How can I get my son or daughter started in sports without putting the pressure on them that they have to win all the time."It is a great question. In today's youth sports society, more and more pressure is being put on parents — and in turn on children — to play competitive or semi-competitive sports at younger ages. Most competitive sports have teams beginning at the age of 6 and some even start as young as 4.However, for all you parents who are looking to get your children started learning about sports and the skills they will need to "play" sports as they get older, there is a growing group of alternatives for you and your children.Sports Are FunMitch Goldberg is the director of Beginners Edge Sports Training (B.E.S.T.) in Phoenix. His non-competitive programs are skill building based programs that allow children to grow and learn sports or certain attributes of the sport without the worries of peer pressure or competition.Goldberg says that programs such as the ones B.E.S.T. offers such as SoccerTots, Lil Sluggers Baseball, SlamDunkerz Basketball and Blitz'em Football, allows kids as young as 18 months to be introduced to the sport prior to getting into league based competitive programs."Winning is important when you are competing — I completely understand. I was a kid once and now I am a parent. I am all for competitive sports — when the time comes," says Goldberg. "I do not however agree that kids should be competing under the age of 6 years old."And there is research out to support Goldberg's statements. Paulo David, author ofHuman Rights in Youth Sport: A Critical Review of Children's Rights in Competitive Sports, found that children don't always understand the concept of competition until the ages of six or seven. And, children under 9 may be incapable of differentiating between the concept of effort and that of ability. This means they believe winning is achieved by how hard they try and that losing means they did not try hard enough.In the book, Why Johnny Hates Sports? author Fred Engh states, "that if kids are competitive at early ages, then they may not be trained in how to fail. If all the focus is on winning, kids may be scared to fail and make mistakes. Mistakes are part of the learning process and it's how one improves."How Does It Work?Non-competitive programs such as the programs offered by Goldberg at B.E.S.T use lots of equipment besides the obligatory soccer ball, baseball, football, or basketball. "Supplies such as cones, hat cones, hula hoops, spots, flag football belts and more supplied by the organization, as well as professionally designed, age separated curriculums maximize fun and learning for children," notes Goldberg. "Most of our programs focus on teaching a specific skill or set of skills each particular day."For instance, Goldberg says for B.E.S.T.'s SoccerTots program, the curriculum for the youngest children (18 months - 30 months) is designed to develop motor skills, promote physical fitness, and create self-confidence. At the same time it presents activities using the soccer ball as many times as the coach feels would be useful. "We would not want the kids to just come to class and kick a ball for 45-50 minutes as this can be difficult and frustrating besides non-productive," says Goldberg. "For our other programs, each class focuses on teaching kids a specific skill each day but masks them in fun games and activities. We do not just go in and out of cones or just throw a baseball back and forth — we make it interesting and keep it moving."Goldberg, whose programs run in eight week sessions, five times a year throughout the Valley, says his programs have been well received, but that he still gets lots of questions from parents. The most asked is "What is the difference between you and XYZ league?""Parents need to understand, we are not a team. B.E.S.T. is essentially skills clinics for specific sports," says Goldberg. "We offer a non-competitive way for the kids to learn skills and we use a paid instructor - leagues are a completely volunteer-based system. We train and pay our coaches and they are all players, school coaches, or referees of the sport they are teaching. We always have our same space each week at the same time and location. Many leagues allow the coaches to set the time and place but the leagues only reserve the time and location for the games not the practices. We also hold all our classes INDOORS during the hot summer months."Goldberg adds that one of the questions he hasn't had an answer for is how to bridge the gap between non-competitive programs such as B.E.S.T. and more competitive leagues."It is something that we are working on — because as parents, you need all types of outlets for your children," he says.In the end, the answer as to when to start your children in sports and to what extent it is recreational or competitive is in the hands of the parent. But Goldberg says he is willing to listen. "We are always adapting to what parents want while maintaining our core drive in introducing beginners to sports," he says. "Over the past four years, we have continually asked parents what they want. Overall, parents see their kids socializing, learning skills in a fun environment, being active, having tons of fun, being exposed to new sports and learning how to play well with others. We have classes full of children whose parents have become friends with the other parents in class and they now make it their weekend 'ritual' to spend time together and hopefully, many will become lifelong friends."And that is what sports really is all about. K&S ...read more
By Beginners Edge Sports Training October 13, 2009
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