The Super Bowl has been bringing families together for decades. With the big game just days away, parents should start thinking about their plans right now. Involving your little ones is a lot easier than you think.

Use the game to help your child understand football. All of the positions and terminology can be difficult for young children understand. Parents can make watching the game more fun by providing age-appropriate explanations. Younger kids may only need to understand to cheer and jump up and down when the “home team” has the ball. Older kids are ready to know a little bit more about the rules of the game.

Be patient. Watching football with a child is much different than watching it with adults. It’s next to impossible for a child to sit through an entire football game. This can be a challenging time for adults who actually want to watch the big game. So be prepared with fun things to do during commercials or when the little ones get bored.

Here are some ideas:

1. 1. Hide balls of small items around the house, send the kids on a mission to find them during commercials or breaks.
2. 2. Have kids guess which team will score first, if the next play will be a run or a pass or what the score will be at the end of each quarter.
3. 3. Older children will enjoy a Football Bingo game. Before the big game, parents can print out cards with football phrases (i.e. “touchdown” or “field goal”). As kids hear the words during the course of the game, they can mark Bingo cards with popcorn or pennies.
4. 4. Be prepared with football theme coloring sheets or the favorite team’s mascot.
5. 5. Make megaphones out of recycled materials like paper towel rolls or colorful paper so they can help you cheer on your favorite team.

And don’t worry, even though Sunday is the end of the NFL season, i9 Sports Spring Flag Football will be here soon. CLICK HERE to register now to SAVE!

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“If you are interested in joining an i9 Sports Program visit www.i9sports.com to find a location near you!”

Valentine’s Day is coming up and love in the air! That’s why we thought it’s a perfect time to share some of the many reasons we LOVE youth sports.

SPORTS ARE FUN!
What better way for your child to spend time with friends, learn new skills and have fun with a group than youth sports! i9 Sports leagues emphasize fun and good sportsmanship over winning, so they’re a great way to increase your child’s social skills, introduce them to new friends and have a great time while they’re at it!

SPORTS ARE HEALTHY!
Exercise is great for your child’s health - both mental and physical. Youth sports are a great way to keep your child fit and happy. And the best part is that they enjoy themselves! According to the Surgeon General, playing sports can help decrease obesity, lower cholesterol, reduce blood pressure and diabetes risk for children, as well as relieve stress. Research has shown that sports can also lessen boredom and help ease anxiety and depression. Playing sports can also help develop self-esteem and confidence by providing a sense of belonging and bonding.

DEVELOP LIFELONG HABITS EARLY!
Playing team sports helps children learn the importance of self-discipline, preparation and resilience, which they will carry forward throughout their entire lives.

LEARN HOW TO WORK AS PART OF A TEAM!
From group projects in school to building a career, interacting as part of a team is something we all eventually must learn. i9 Sports leagues emphasize the importance of teamwork. Children learn camaraderie, cooperation, and leadership. Playing sports makes children part of a community and gives them the feeling of belonging to something larger than themselves!

You can see why we love youth sports, and we hope you do too! So sign up for a Spring sports program that your child is sure to love!

The fun & frenzy of the holidays are behind us. A brand new year is ahead and it’s a popular time to focus on making changes, and setting our resolutions and goals for the months ahead. A common goal people make for the New Year is to stay active, and we’re here to help! Here are 5 easy ways for you and your children to stay active & healthy in 2012!

1. Have a fun exercise contest during the commercial breaks of your favorite family TV shows. See how many sit-ups, laps around the room, or jumping jacks you can do. Or how about a bubble chasing contest - take turns blowing or chasing and bursting as many as possible!

2. Start a new family tradition for the New Year - an after dinner walk! Set aside 20 to 30 minutes after your evening meal to take a walk around the neighborhood. Have a dog? Bring him along!

3 . There are plenty of fun outdoor activities to keep you busy during the Winter. Build a snowman, make a snow angel or try ice skating. No snow where you are? How about a game of tag or hide & seek - you’ll have a great time and keep warm while you do it!

4. Dance to the music! This is a great activity that the whole family can enjoy - who doesn’t like to move when they hear great music on the radio? Crank up the tunes and have a dance competition!

5. Get those closets all cleaned out! Another popular resolution for the New Year is to reduce clutter. Get the best of both worlds by having a closet cleaning competition. Hauling out old toys, shoes & clothes is a great way to keep active. See who can collect the largest pile for donating!

And don’t forget about upcoming programs with i9 Sports! Beyond keeping yourself fit, improving your mood and increasing your energy level, keeping active can be just plain fun. And remember….children learn by example, so it’s never too early to get them focused on staying fit & healthy. The habits they learn now can carry over into adulthood!

As a dedicated sport parent, you often get up early on the weekends, pack up the kids and head to the games. Do you ever wonder…what’s in it for my child? What does he or she get out of this? Well the benefits of youth sports are huge, and they can carry over into adulthood:

• Better socialization skills! Youth athletes develop relationships with their teammates and coaches, learn camaraderie, and how to work together to achieve a common goal.
  
• Improved self-esteem and confidence! Team sports are great esteem builders. Giving and receiving encouragement and respect from peers can help children feel good about themselves and is a great way to build their confidence.
  
• Enhanced school performance! According to the American College of Sports Medicine, student athletes generally do better in school. They can experienced increased concentration, classroom behavior, and memory.
  
• Increased leadership skills! Team sports teach children the importance of rules, and give them the opportunity to act as leaders by assessing the strengths and weaknesses of teammates and opponents and compensate for those qualities.

i9 Sports places a heavy emphasis on fun and good sportsmanship in our leagues because we want to foster a lifelong love of sports in our participants! We’ve gotten such wonderful comments from parents about how much their achievements on the field have meant to their children. And that’s the most important thing of all!

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Parents benefit from youth sports participation, too!

“If you are interested in joining an i9 Sports Program visit www.i9sports.com to find a location near you!”

Did you know that Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team? Albert Einstein was told he was stupid & wouldn’t amount to anything! Before Henry Ford found success in the car business, he went broke five times! Winston Churchill failed the 6th grade and stuttered!

These remarkable individuals made significant contributions and achieved great success after overcoming adversity. That’s why it’s important for us, especially as sports parents, to teach our children the value of persistence. The best way to help children accomplish their goals is to encourage them to never give up!

Parents want their kids to be the best at whatever they attempt to do and that includes the sport that they play. But, it’s not easy to watch from the sidelines as they struggle. Give children a chance to try, and they may fail, then encourage them to try again! Don’t rush to judgment if they don’t win every time!  At this early stage of their sports experience, the better evaluation tools are whether they’re enjoying themselves, improving their game, and trying their best.

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“If you are interested in joining an i9 Sports Program visit www.i9sports.com to find a location near you!”

i9 Sports is dedicated to making your child’s youth sports experience a great one. We want your child and your entire family to enjoy the i9 Sports Experience. Because parental involvement is so pivotal to a positive experience, we want to share some tips to encourage positive post-game conversations:

Post Game Conversation Guide:

Focus on fun. Ask your child if they had fun. Making sure it is fun for the kids is our main focus. If fun is also your focus, it is more likely to be the case each and every week!

Focus on development. Organized sports activities are not only a great way for children to learn a sport, but are also a great way to build their confidence and self-esteem while learning to play the game. Ask your child what they learned today. You may be surprised to hear that it’s a lesson that is valuable inside and outside of the game.

Set realistic expectations. We’ve all heard the old expression, “You can’t win them all.” By placing the emphasis on fun and skill development over competition, winning or losing becomes less important.

Tell your child that you are proud of them. Point out the fact that they played harder this week, got better at some aspect of the game, or had a great practice. This will be the icing on the cake of a great experience!

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“If you are interested in joining an i9 Sports Program visit www.i9sports.com to find a location near you!”

When it’s a positive experience, team sports are one of the best ways to help kids develop life skills, promote a healthy lifestyle, and increase self-esteem. However, did you know that a survey among youth athletes revealed that:

• 31% saw parents yelling at or arguing with officials;
• 28% saw parents yelling at or arguing with coaches; and
• 27% heard parents or coaches using foul language.

These kinds of statistics and the unwanted pressure that they place on kids is why i9 Sports was the first national sports organization to develop and implement a parental pledge.

Signing the Parental Pledge, reminds you why you enrolled your kids in sports in the first place - to help your child develop physically and emotionally. The role of an i9 Sports fan is to support all of the kids in the game in terms of their effort, improvement, and the amount of fun they are having.

We can’t wait to see you at the game!

At i9 Sports, we love our coaches. Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a SUPER i9 Sports coach? It’s easy, Safety, Understanding, Patience, Enthusiasm and being a good Role Model.

-Safety is a top priority. What makes i9 Sports different is that we don’t stop at just the physical safety of our kids, but also strive to create a positive environment in which the children thrive, void of negativity and unwanted pressure.

-Understanding, means taking the time to run thoughts through your head before reacting.

-Practice Patience. Each team is a group of very unique kids with unique needs. i9 Sports coaches get to know them all and then focus on the needs of each.

-Enthusiasm is important because kids will feed off of the coaches’ energy, be it positive or negative. The more fun the coach has, the better the experience is for the kids.

-Coaches are Role Models. Kids pay a lot more attention to what you do then what you say.

i9 Sports coaches build lasting memories with their players and we appreciate their dedication to providing a positive i9 Sports experience to all of our players!

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“If you are interested in joining an i9 Sports Program visit www.i9sports.com to find a location near you!”

Does this sound familiar? You’re the first one up in the morning, you make coffee, let the dog out, prepare breakfast for the kids, pack their lunches, reassemble their backpacks, get them out the door in time to catch the bus for school. You then get yourself dressed and hurry out the door in order to make it to work on time. After a long day at the office you look forward to coming home and relaxing for a little while. Right?

Wrong! There’s homework, dinner, football practice, showers all around and then bedtime. But not for you…you still have to clean up the dinner dishes, throw in a load of laundry, let the dog out, and then with any luck at all you can grab some shut-eye. Dreams of repeating the entire exhausting routine the next day help you fall asleep quickly.

I just described my daily schedule but I’m sure it’s not that different from yours. And, I’m fairly certain that like me you could use a little more time in your day. We can’t create more time but we can make better use of the time we do have and find ways to save some of it and help alleviate the everyday stresses we face. For example: instead of spending unproductive time searching for all the parts to your son’s football uniform consider the following time-saving tips.

1. Make sure your child has a different bag for each sport. Bags don’t need to be expensive considering they’re just going to be stuffed with smelly gear anyway.
2. Train your child to put his/her shoes in the bag following each game or practice. This way, you’ll always know where they are.
3. Leave equipment associated with that sport in the bag too.
4. Wash their entire uniform as soon as you can after the game.
5. Hang the ENTIRE clean uniform together on one hangar. For example, if it is a soccer uniform, first hang the shirt; then (using the loop inside the pants) hang the pants over the top of the hangar; match and secure the socks and stick them in the loop of the pants. Do the same for baseball/football/cheerleading, etc. Everything needs to be on one hangar. If you have space in your laundry room, hang a rod somewhere and designate it “Sports Central.” When it’s time for practice or game day, your child can grab the appropriate sports bag and their entire uniform and be ‘good to go’.

What time saving technique have you found to be successful? Please leave a comment and share your idea with other busy parents.

Linde Hyder, i9 Sports Mom Blogger

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Did you know that our bodies are made up of about 60% water? The long days of summer, combined with outdoor activities provide peak times for dehydration, especially in active kids.

Water carries out every essential body function including regulating body temperature, carrying oxygen to our muscles and it helps to fight off common illnesses.

Kids are especially susceptible to dehydration and heat related illness and injuries in the summer. These injuries most often result from kids not drinking adequate amounts of water to rehydrate their bodies.

Did you know that the initial phase of dehydration often starts well before kids ever step outside? It is important to be sure your kids are well hydrated before beginning any outdoor activity.

Here are a few tips for helping your kids stay hydrated:

• - Be sure your child carries water with him/her or it is within reach during activities
• - Talk about why drinking water is important to avoid injuries
• - Avoid sodas and carbonated drinks whenever possible

It is also important that you become familiar with the symptoms of dehydration and heat related illnesses prior to your child participating in any outdoor activity. Knowing when your children lack the fluids they need may help save their life!

Some symptoms of dehydration include:

• - Very dry mouth
• - Extreme thirst
• - Headache
• - Confusion
• - Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• - Feeling of being extremely sleepy or tired

It is important to recognize the symptoms of dehydration before heat injuries begin. The three most common heat related injuries are:
Heat Cramps: causes muscle pain or spasms
- Symptoms include muscle pain and sudden muscle tenderness
Heat Exhaustion: precedes possible heat stroke
- Symptoms include heavy sweating, rapid breathing, weak pulse
Heat Stroke: life threatening
- Symptoms include a body temperature over 106 F, dry skin, strong pulse and dizziness (If these symptoms exist call for emergency help immediately)

The best treatment for heat related illnesses involves finding a way to rapidly cool the body. Some of these steps can include:

• Moving your child into a cooler location out of the sun
• Removing any sweat-soaked clothing to allow cooler skin temperatures
• Using wet towels applied to the face, neck, wrists and legs
• Having your child take sips of cool (not cold) water slowly

The summer months are a time of year where kids love to be outside enjoying their surroundings. As a parent, you can encourage their love of the outdoors, sports and excitement of nature and not be afraid of the summer heat. Water is essential to everything, it gives us life, so be sure in the hot days of summer, your kids receive plenty of both!

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