Soccer for Kids as Young as 18 Months? Yes, and It’s About More Than Soccer
** This article is sponsored by KidsUnited Urbandale.
If you have a toddler in Des Moines, you already know the gap. Gymnastics, rec soccer, most of the real classes around here want them at 4 or 5. Until then it’s playgrounds, open play, and whatever you can invent in the living room.
That would be fine if those years were filler. They aren’t. About 80 percent of a child’s character is formed before age 7, which is an aggravating thing to learn when almost nothing in town is built for that age.
Eddie and Lindsay Trudeau ran into it with their son Jaxon. His older sister Hadley had places to be. Jaxon had the ride along. They looked for something that was actually for him, kept coming up empty, and that’s how they found KidsUnited. KidsUnited is an early development soccer program that starts at 18 months, built around four words: Brain, Body, Life, Soccer. Soccer is the tool. What it teaches is the brain-body connection, motor skills, and life skills, so a class covers colors, numbers, and matching right alongside how to listen, how to play well with other kids, and how to clean up after yourself! They liked it enough to open the first one in the metro themselves, in May, at 3839 121st Street in Urbandale.
Jaxon was on the turf early. A few months in, he’s the one dragging them in from the parking lot. He can’t wait to come back.
Class is 45 minutes, once a week, with small class sizes in a brand new facility. If your child is under three and a half, you’re out there playing along with them too. Each 45-minute class is unique and structured to develop the key motor and life skills for that week.
Parents on Google say the same thing in their own words. Dillon D. noticed “a difference in my son’s ability to listen to a coach and work as a team in just a week.” Idalias C., after a few classes with her daughter: “You can see her growth in confidence and skill already. The classes are small and fast-paced to keep the kids engaged.” And Mike F., who has spent 25 years coaching: “Hands down the best experience for kids I have seen or been a part of.”
We asked Eddie the obvious questions.
Why this, and why here?
“The curriculum, first. I didn’t want another open-play situation. KidsUnited actually wrote one for each age, built around the whole kid, not just kicking a ball. Then the weather. In Iowa it’s either 30 and cold or 97 and humid. It’s hard enough to keep a two-year-old’s attention, but when he’s hot and the sun is beating down on him, forget it. Indoors and year-round, his progress doesn’t stall. We needed it for Jaxon, and it wasn’t here, so we brought it.”
What’s different with Jaxon?
“He listens so much better now, to us and to his coaches. He waits his turn. And he’s proud of himself, which I didn’t expect to see this early. He asks how many days until soccer.”
What should people know?
“We built this because we couldn’t find it for our own kids, and now I get to watch it work on mine every week. Bring yours in. I think they’ll love it as much as Jaxon does.”
Come see for yourself and try your first class for free. All you need is sneakers and a water bottle. Weekends fill up first.
Book here: https://www.kidsunited.com/urbandale/free-trial-signup, or call or text (515) 259-0395 with your child’s age.
KidsUnited Urbandale
3839 121st St, Urbandale, IA 50323
(515) 259-0395
