Soccer - avoid Kids Pro Soccer

[Anonymous]

Agree completely! They are disorganized, don't communicate clearly and very unprofessional. They don't answer the phones either. We enrolled our toddler into a summer class and then for two weekends in a row did not show up. When I finally reached Marcel, he said that they canceled the class, but had no explanation as to why we were not notified of it. I asked that they give us a refund and eventually it came through, but not without a lot of follow up. I recommend steering clear. Shady operation and there are plenty of other better, more professional options out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Love coach nick in potomac for my 4 yo

I did enroll for another season because of coach Nicolas, but apparently moved to another location and we ended up with Joseph for this summer session and he does a fantastic job. On our part, we have liked KPS programs and trainers.

[Anonymous]

Update on this chain - I had emailed the company after they had cancelled two classes out of four. The guy at Kid Soccer called to yell at me. I had simply asked him whether there were makeup classes happening. He hung up the phone. Completely unprofessional and a scam.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't really like this whole post but I just wanted to throw something out there. Yes, sometimes he is unreliable, his refund policy is shaky and maybe he's not the most personable person (although I find that the kids like him and definitely like the other coaches). But here's what Kids Pro Soccer does that no other soccer does esp Stoddard, which thousands of kids sign up for every year. He teaches them how to play. It is not all running around and kicking the ball. He is actually teaching them soccer skills. I have seen my son grow into a cute little player who actually can think about what he is doing. We also do Stoddard, which is parent run, and they do something else, which is give him a quasi-team experience with no pressure which I like. But all his skills have come from KPS. Try not to take all the other stuff so seriously (our kids are 3-6 after all) and you will be really pleased. I know that I have been admin frustrations and all.

I agree. That is the whole point--actually teach them soccer, yes! I am really fed up with programs (of all kinds) and parents who are always looking for catering to children something that has no sense and will not help them in the future. If you want to baby your child, do it, but that is why quality programs will never work for your child. What's wrong with learnig how to dribblle through some amazing games? If you want a class that your child will not benefit from, but will have fun kicking the ball out of control, you may as well become your child's coach and keep it in the backyard.
Anyways, a friend of mine recommend Kids Pro Soccer around five years ago. She knew Marcel because he trained her daughter for years until she received a scholarship to Princestone, so she has lots to thank him for.
My son was just 2.5 when we started kps classes, now he is 7.5 loves soccer, is now in Stodder, and I can not say a bad word about Kids Pro Soccer and the coaches, and we were with them for 4 years.
Parents can be very difficult to deal with and often have very unreasonable expectations, including myself. I hope that this helps these who actually have high expectations for their child.

Just a small point here…assuming you meant "Princeton" there are no athletic scholarships. Also I know the Princeton coach well (she's since retired) and she did have quite a few DC-based players. So it's not unlikely that the kid the PP was referring to went to Princeton to play soccer. BUT, there is no chance the director of a kiddie soccer camp got that kid a scholarship to Princeton

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Update on this chain - I had emailed the company after they had cancelled two classes out of four. The guy at Kid Soccer called to yell at me. I had simply asked him whether there were makeup classes happening. He hung up the phone. Completely unprofessional and a scam.

Are you taking about this summer sessions and rain make ups? We are at the Potomac class and it rained out twice. We received an email that we will have a make up at the end of the classes.
I have my DD in the class, but my older son is a rising 2nd grader and have been taking Kids Pro classes since he was two, and I can tell you that this is definitely a great program in terms of the coaches and how good they are with kids. Yes, there rain cancelations, but most of the time, they give us all the make ups, but all of the companies do that and if you loose a class it's because the weather has been super bad-that has happened probably once since we have been in the program.
There are some indoor programs at the sportplex in MD you may want to consider.

[Anonymous]

Help!
I wish I had searched dcurbanmom before signing up with this company. First class was awful, my son started crying mid way through practice and never wants to return. The coach should not be instructing young children (5yo)... just awful and not fun in anyway. I contacted the company for a refund, but my the looks of it, some other posters have had a lot of resistance. Any tips for securing a refund? Thanks. And I echo others - please avoid for this younger age group.

[Anonymous]

Seriously here.... I juts want to know what class was it and it may be that your son is overly sensitive? What can a coach do to have a 5 year old cry? That's on the older end of tots program. We also had our first class today (Norwood Park) and that we have done this with our older son as well, it is consistently really great. I don't know what would be the grounds for the refund as you are not specific, but have you requested it?

[Anonymous]

Coach Marcel made my 3 year old cry, maybe the teaching methods are good for older kids but they are not teaching the right way with smaller children. The class is not structured it's chaos with children and parents running all over. The. The coaches have the kids hold the ball and run with it then they expect them to understand that they cannot use their hands in soccer??

[Anonymous]

All my three kids did kids pro at some point, (and were really impressed with most of the coaches we had),and I would like to point out that that they do have silly games with youngest groups that they put the ball on their had, belly while running around, but that was mostly like a warm up and "head and shoulders, knees and toes" type of game. So I'm pretty sure that it was it in your case as well. I would not worry too much about this being a confusion.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone recommend a soccer class in NW DC for a 2 year old? I'm leary of Kids Pro Soccer after reading this thread. Many thanks.

[Anonymous]

Brit-am is good. But at age 2, no matter where you go, it will be like herding cats. I think 3.5 is best if you want them to actually start learning about the game.

[Anonymous]

This thread is fascinating. I was inspired to check out Marcel's background and for the life of me, I can't seem to back up the soccer background he puts out about himself with any sort of proof. For someone with the type of soccer background that he seems to have, he's really hard to find any information about. Interesting....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brit-am is good. But at age 2, no matter where you go, it will be like herding cats. I think 3.5 is best if you want them to actually start learning about the game.

Brit AM turn out to be a complete disaster for us. I took on organizing a group and regretted it. It was coaching that really was disappointing and the coach was late most of the time. This season we started with Kids Pro and so far, it's been really good, and my parents are very pleased. Mainly, because they are reinforcing more advanced drills and making it entertaining and the staff was super helpful in recovering my lost ball and bag!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Had a great experience with BRIT-AM

Yup Brit-am
Then DC Stoddert

[Anonymous]

Coach John (Jenkins) classes are great! All in DC area.