The FA SuperKicks
Whilst for many the arrival of the break may mean long days of family and football fun in the sun, for thousands of parents it can be a surprisingly stressful time as they face the pressure of keeping their children entertained.
However, help is at hand thanks to the FA SuperKicks app, launched this year in partnership with McDonald’s. Already helping to increase football participation, fun and learning for five to eight-year-olds up and down the country, the app offers hundreds of skills, drills and fun games for young football lovers of all levels.
This week we invited 2,000 mums and dads, each a parent to at least one child aged five to eight years old, to take part in an online poll. We found that almost four in five parents (78%) admit they will have difficulty keeping their children entertained throughout the break, while nearly half (48%) think they would benefit from more information and ideas about football skills and games to play with their children.
FA 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.
Ahead of the summer holidays, The FA visited three SuperKicks fans, Olivia, Nawal and Mimi, who shared their stories on how the app has helped to supercharge their football fun this year.
Olivia already enjoyed playing football on her own and with friends. Now she is loving taking her skills to another level, joining her local team and using the FA SuperKicks app to work on new training exercises in the park and garden.
For Nawal, the fun entry to football means he has finally gained the confidence to play with his friends, rather than just watching them. Using the FA SuperKicks app, he has built up his confidence by initially taking on the beginner challenges and moving up when he’s ready. Now he LOVES getting outside and playing football!
For Mimi, it’s a different story. She’s been inspired both to get outside and play, but also to get creative indoors thanks to some of the fun games and challenges such as kit design, and drawing Wembley Stadium!
To find out more, or download The FA SuperKicks app, visit TheFA.com/SuperKicks