The partnership between the GFA and LittleChamps is now into its second year and continues to provide high quality, age-appropriate, football sessions that are open to toddlers and pre-schoolers.

Under the current local club football set up, children can join their a club’s Mini’s section once they start in reception at school, but the demand for sports classes for younger children has led to the development of Little Champs and, now, Little Champs Football.

Laurel Le Tocq, who set up and runs Little Champs, believes getting children into sport from a younger age will normalise an active lifestyle and encourage a lifelong enjoyment of sport and commented that: “The LittleChamps classes introduce children aged 2-4 years to the fundamentals of movement and basic sport skills in a fun, encouraging and age-appropriate way and the opportunity to develop this offering to include sport-specific football classes, run by qualified GFA coaches, has been a great next-step for the children who have cracked the basic sport skills and are now ready to apply those skills to a sport.”

Gary Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, GFA added: “The GFA is pleased that this new partnership with LittleChamps, has been such a success and so well received by both the children and parents in providing those young children with a positive introduction to the sport and in what will be a safe and fun environment. Developing an enjoyment of being active and participating in sport can establish a life-long journey of being fit and healthy and this is something that the GFA not only advocates but fully endorses and supports. The sessions are delivered by highly qualified and experienced coaches and we are looking forward to continuing to work with Little Champs to provide this opportunity for the local community as we enter the second year of the partnership.”

This year, the GFA will be linking the FA Superkicks scheme into the LittleChamps football delivery and GFA Football Development Officer, Angus Mackay explained the reasoning behind this when commenting: “The FA SuperKicks app was launched this year and is already helping to increase football participation, fun and learning for five to eight-year-olds up and down the country with the app offering hundreds of skills, drills and fun games for young football lovers of all levels. SuperKicks helps children and parents to discover a world of football, no matter what their ability. With hundreds of activities ranging from skills and drills to active challenges, quizzes and creative tasks, it focuses on rewarding play and learning to encourage participation. 

“The challenges have been created by FA coaches and established upon The England DNA foundation phase. Each activity has an interactive video guide, with the star of the app called ‘Kicker’- a football shaped character acting as the child’s coach and mentor, providing encouragement throughout the challenges. The GFA recognises the value of integrating SuperKicks into the LittleChamps sessions and we look forward to seeing how the children, and parents, enjoy the various activities and achieving their individual targets!”

Anyone interested in booking a space can contact littlechampsGSY@outlook.com . Little Champs is also on Facebook and Twitter.