4 Ways To Stay Healthy During Winter

Have you been wondering why you're the one that keeps healthy while your children get sick a few times a year? It's been stated that children can get the cold up to 8-10 times a year while adults don't. This is not caused by a weak immune system; it is because most children haven't yet built immunity to countless viruses that circulate in our environment including schools, public transport, classes, dining hall, you name it. So, when your child catches a cold, you don't need to panic at all; they usually disappear on their own and actually help your child gain immunity. In this case, what can be done to prevent or reduce the risk of your child getting a cold in the future?

 EXERCISE REGULARLY:

For both children and adults, obesity has been scientifically proven to increase the presence of inflammatory components that cause metabolic diseases and other health alterations. Obesity is also known to impair immune function, making your children susceptible to possible infections and viruses. High levels of physical activity (like soccer) in young children appear to benefit the immune system through modifying auto antigen-induced immune activation. Regular exercise has also been proven to reduce stress, increase metabolic activity, improve cardiovascular health, and make the body release the feel-good hormones to keep you kickin' throughout the day.

GET PUMPED ON VITAMINS:

Healthy, nutritious habits enable children to grow and thrive a lot more easily. Vitamin C is found in citrus fruits such as oranges, strawberries, tomatoes, and broccoli. It has been shown to help prevent the common cold in individuals exposed to sickness-inducing surroundings. Vitamin C may also aid to shorten the duration and intensity of a cold and has been advised to be consumed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Good nutrition is a critical factor in keeping fit, preventing obesity, and keeping your immune system boosted.

 GO TO SLEEP (and do it soon):

According to studies, those who don't get enough sleep are more prone to illnesses like colds. According to Australian sleep guidelines, toddlers require 11 to 14 hours of good-quality sleep, while preschoolers require 10 to 13 hours. An uninterrupted 9 to 11 hours is advised for children aged five to thirteen. Also, scientific studies have shown that regular exercise improves sleeping patterns and increases deep sleep time, which is when we get juiced up on brain functions.

KEEP THE HANDS CLEAN:

While preventing the spread of germs may not be strictly beneficial to your child's immune system, it is a terrific way to relieve stress. Make sure your kids wash their hands frequently (with soap!), keep surfaces clean at home, bring disposable wipes with you when you go out, and keep the masks on in risky environments, as Covid-19 isn't the only virus we should be concerned with.

One of the KEY factors to prevent diseases and maintain health is to engage in physical activity, and there's no way better than to do it with a team by your side. So, check out all our programs and find out which is best for you and your child — gift yourself the immune boost you deserve!

Making the Right Call on Your Child's Health

Are you trying to decide on the way to help provide your child a healthy upbringing? There are many ways to achieve such a goal, and there are a significant number of sports that can help a child thrive both physically and mentally. Soccer, in particular, provides some benefits, not all the other sports can. Because of its nature, players must include in exercises that require them to sprint, turn, jump, and socialize. But there is more to the story. With the ever-changing order regarding the society and therefore children, the average screen time of a child aged between 8-18 has risen up to 7.5 hours per day, related to the fact that physical activities, including soccer, were replaced with time spent in front of a screen (Merkel, 2013). What physical activities like soccer provide our children is an efficient way of spending time, socializing with their peers, and getting used to daily physical activity, which would be a lot harder to achieve later in life.

Why soccer?

With the rise of national obesity, it is crucial for a child to engage in physical activities and exertion daily that soccer can provide. Soccer enables children to socialize and feel a sense of belonging to a competitive sport. It is a sport with a great exertion rate; therefore, it minimizes the risk of developing a chronic disease. Improves health and motor skills, enables children to improve their cardiovascular health. Soccer is a sport that requires children to sprint, jump, and turn continuously. Children who play soccer have a significantly stronger bone and muscular structure than their peers who don't.

Soccer also has a tremendous psychological effect on children; it minimizes the risk of depression, prevents high-risk health behaviors, increases positive behavior among teens. Why? Because children tend to learn from one another and to constantly be in a safe, competitive, regulated environment (like DC Way) allows them to perceive the world more safely and healthily. Since it's a team sport, it gives children the opportunity to belong in a social group, communicate and grow together. Children at that age don't only require an education that helps with their IQ, but they also need to develop their emotional intelligence, and soccer does just that. They learn how to communicate, be a team player, set goals and kick goals when the time comes. Most importantly, soccer is A LOT OF FUN.

Don't wait any longer; enroll your child in any camp in DC Way and see the immediate emotional and physical change in your child. There's no way better than to gift your child an opportunity to engage in a sport like soccer, where they'll be able to find themselves and thrive!

After-School Programs: Keep Your Athlete Active All Fall!

At DC Way, we find ourselves upon one of the most exciting times of the year. Summer camps are in the rearview mirror, children are back at school, and our After-School Programs just finished their second week. This fall, we will be offering a thorough list of soccer-related activities for your child to enjoy! With any of our programs, the main goal (other than scoring lots of goals) is to give children a safe and inclusive place to develop a love of soccer. Beyond that, we focus on advancing their soccer skills and their critical thinking abilities. We play age-appropriate games that keep all young athletes engaged while exercising their brains and their bodies. 

Our After-School Programs are currently located at Providence Park and Watkins Elementary School. Each location has classes Monday-Thursday. The 4-5-year-olds practice from 4:00-4:45 pm, and the 6-7-year-olds from 4:50-5:30 pm. Don’t worry if you missed the beginning of our program — we will run our classes all fall non-stop in 6-week cycles!

DC Way also offers Weekly Skills Clinics for 8-12-year-olds. These practices take place at the Fields at RFK Campus on Wednesdays. Groups are split up by age and gender, and there are U8-U9 sessions and U10-U12 sessions. This fall is the perfect time for your child to fall in love with soccer in one of our wonderful programs... We hope to see you soon!

Get Ready For DC Way’s Personalized Learning Pods

Still searching for a fun and safe activity for your child? Look no further than DC Way's Learning Pods! Build your child a private pod with friends and classmates to play fun soccer games during their free time and enjoy the beautiful weather. You can pick any location and the DC Way team will come to you.

Learning Pods are small groups of young children paired with a single coach and an assistant in a park. The program may benefit your child in many ways — stay active, learn new skills, play exciting games, and socialize with one another. Your little athlete will enjoy a break from technology, school, and screen time with outdoor games and free play. This is also an advantageous option for our parents who need to work and can’t supervise their child.  

Are you looking for a serious, fun, or educational soccer program? At DC Way’s Learning Pods, you can choose between recreational soccer, competitive level soccer, or advanced development. The schedule for each pod is personalized based on the needs, interests, and physical ability of each child. The coach will assess the interests of each player to create activities that everyone will love. All times can be completely customized to fit your needs and your child’s learning schedule – and the coach comes to you!

Make the most of your child's free time with DC Way’s unique and amazing Learning Pods. Please send us an email at contact@dcway.com to organize your Pod.

Soccer & COVID-19: 10 Steps We Follow To Keep You Safe

Soccer holds an important role in a child’s development, teaching valuable lessons and improving physical fitness. As the pandemic has disrupted every aspect of our daily lives, some questions come to mind including — is it safe for children to play soccer? 

We the DC Way team believe that with the appropriate safety precautions children may participate in soccer programs. Our club has taken our players’ safety and well-being very seriously throughout this time. Since we began operating in June after the quarantine, we have had no player who tested positive for COVID-19 (as a result of our programs). But how did DC Way accomplish this? From the start, we have implemented several new protocols for children, coaches, and parents to stay safe. We continue to train our employees about the new procedures and order cleaning, first aid, and sanitation supplies to better serve your family. 

Following the CDC’s and other local health authorities’ safety guidelines, we are currently making changes to our soccer programs and implementing extra precautions to exceed all mandated safety procedures. We have evaluated locations to identify the areas that will allow us to safely control the environment. More specifically, our team applies the following strategies below to create a safer environment and experience.

Players, coaches, and parents must wear a mask at all times. We practice social distancing of at least six feet as outlined by the CDC and local recommendations. All players fill out a questionnaire for COVID-19 symptoms and do a blood oxygenation check with a pulse oximeter before entering the field. We are taking temperatures of everyone, including staff, parents, and players, before entering the field.

During practice, we prioritize good hand hygiene — we wash our hands every 15-20 minutes and use hand sanitizer frequently. Sharing any equipment, water, or food is not allowed. Each player is responsible for bringing their own equipment such as a water bottle or soccer balls. We also avoid common actions such as celebratory hugs, shaking hands, and high fives. After each session, we clean and disinfect common surfaces and used equipment, including any balls we provide.

It is crucial to our club to stay safe and mindful of our community while playing soccer as we continue to adhere to strict guidelines. Thank you again for your support and loyalty. Our team is looking forward to providing you and your children with the best learning experience in all of Capitol Hill!

Make The Most Of Your Child's Summer With A Fun Soccer Camp!

DC Way Summer Soccer Camp is a great way for your child to have an exciting and fun summer experience! It creates a unique place for children to meet new friends, improve their technical skills, have fun, build confidence, and learn to be successful. With our exciting and challenging activities, we ensure falling in love with soccer and sports in general. We focus on speed, footwork, 1v1 moves, creativity, vision, confidence, and many more in just a single week.

At the start of each week, we kick it off with a team-building exercise using soccer ice breakers. Every day we discuss a new sportsmanship topic and learn about a new soccer move! On Tuesday, we focused on the change of direction as our main skill set. In Alyssa’s group (6-8), campers played shadow shooting and snowball. Celeste’s campers (4-6) learned the skill “pull back” and “scissors” which are both really important skills to master in soccer. They also worked on a reaction game with the goal to be the first to score in the color called. Overall, all groups worked on scrimmages, allowing campers to be creative and work on decision making. At the end of the day, an honorable mention goes to Julia Olsen from Bobby’s group for excelling at today’s skill set.

The skill set we worked on Thursday was shooting and finishing. Campers learned not only about how to make sure the ball hits the back of the net, but also the proper technique and importance of aim. Missing the target is a mistake, but a bigger problem is not taking the responsibility to shoot at goal at all as attackers must accept the risk of failure. Celeste’s (4-6) group worked on following your shot and not just watching. Adela De La Uz did a great job encouraging her teammates to get back in the game and keeping a positive attitude! Alyssa’s (6-8) group played “Ghostbusters”, where campers would dribble around with a ball and when the two “ghosts” arrived, the players would try to kick the ball at them below the knees. At the end of the day, an honorable mention goes to Eli Neufeld for his competitive nature and passion for the game.

All of these activities were completed with many water breaks and the reapplying of sunscreen hourly! Thank you to all parents and campers who came out and had fun at our camps. We really appreciate everyone who helped make DC Way's Summer Soccer Camps so special!  

Loving Soccer Has Never Been So Easy With DC Way’s Summer Camp

The first day of summer camp was a success! Campers came in very excited to start the day. We kicked off our camp by having players introduce themselves through fun icebreakers. We use these games to ensure that everyone feels included! After we have gotten to know each other, we played soccer games and exercises that build physical and cognitive skills. For example, our fun version of tic-tac-toe enhances your child's ability to make quick and strong decisions.

Each day is assigned a specific skill set to work on such as dribbling, change of direction, speed, shooting and finishing, and communication. For example, on Monday (dribbling day) we played soccer freeze tag where you become tagged when the ball gets dribbled through your legs. On Coach Bobby’s team, campers played one of his Juventus warmups, which he learned this winter in Turin. For Monday’s camp, an honorable mention goes to Caleb Christensen for winning the 4 corners dribbling drill!

Another skill set that players excelled at was speed. At any level, speed separates the outstanding players from the average. Therefore, never underestimate the speed training’s importance! To improve our players’ speed in the game, coaches worked on speed endurance, quick acceleration, agility, quick change of direction, and speed of thought. Last but not least, players learned a lot about communication on the team day. The goal was to teach players how to understand each other better on the field and learn how to play in a team. For Friday’s camp, an honorable mention goes to Lincoln McCabe for always showing good sportsmanship and compassion towards his teammates.

Whether it be rain or shine, DC Way is always prepared to have fun! Once again, thank you all for choosing DC Way and we all hope to see you soon at one of our upcoming camps!

Soccer's Impact on the Physical Development of a Child

Only healthy people can be happy, but how can we relate that to soccer? While learning soccer skills is important, when teaching a young child to play soccer one must first focus on the importance of the physical aspect of soccer in regards to the child’s development.  

Regular physical activity helps develop a child’s movement skills while building stronger bones, a healthier heart and stronger muscles. Research shows that regular exercise can increase the size of the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved with learning and memory.

Soccer helps teach many aspects of a child’s development such as body awareness, proprioception, gross motor skills, agility, endurance and strength. Learning these basic physical movements at a young age through sports, such as soccer, can help the child be more athletic than they were naturally meant to be.

It is important to understand that every time a player has to execute a technical skill there are physical capabilities that are needed to execute the specific skill. Additionally, they must develop the physical capabilities before you build the technical skills. If a child cannot control their body because they don’t have the necessary physical capabilities, they cannot execute the technical skills needed to control the ball during a soccer match. If they cannot control the ball within the match, the child cannot control the game. 

At DC Way we work on developing all aspects of the child: physical, mental and their soccer skills. The physical development portions of our programs focus on getting children stronger, healthier and to prepare their bodies for the next steps in development. This prepares them for whatever comes next not only in their soccer career, but also what comes next to creating a happy and healthy lifestyle!

Meet Panna the Panda

Hi DC Way Family!

Meet Panna the Panda!  DC Way’s friendly and happy-go-lucky mascot!  Panna the Panda visits camps and clinics at DC Way and enjoys becoming friends with all our campers. 

Our blog uses Panna to provide examples of what we offer and the unique benefits soccer provides at DC Way.  Soccer is a great sport because it helps develop both physical and cognitive skills at a young age.  As a team sport, soccer provides the opportunity to practice communication and team work.  Having to move across the field is a great way to keep active while simultaneously using strategic thinking and decision making to score goals.  Playing soccer at DC Way has made Panna more confident in themselves because of the experiences and skills it has taught!

Read more of our blog posts to learn more about the many benefits of playing soccer at DC Way!

How Soccer Can Enhance Emotional Intelligence by Caroline Stanton

What is emotional intelligence and why is it important?  Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize, understand and manage our own and other’s emotions.  More specifically, Harvard Business Review defined emotional intelligence as comprised of four core competencies that include: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.  Having a high level of emotional intelligence can range from navigating conflict to building lasting relationships.  According to Brian Tracy, Forbes CommunityVoice writer, emotional intelligence is critical to successful leadership because it aids in managing team relationships and problem-solving.  This critical life skill can be enhanced even at a young age by playing sports like soccer.

In sports, emotional intelligence means the player has the ability to control their emotions to help them play at peak performance.  If a player has a high level of emotional intelligence, then they are more likely to be consistent during a game or practice.  Soccer helps to build emotional intelligence through strengthening its core competencies.  For example, DC Way coaches help to build the player’s self-awareness through constructional feedback during practice.  Players also must have strong self-management skills to remain calm and play consistently during a high-pressure game that could cause frustration or nervousness.  Furthermore, to be a strong team, players constantly work on developing their relationship management skills.  DC Way builds relationship management skills through team strengthening exercises like Twins. 

In the soccer game Twins, two players tie their inside legs together with a piece of cloth.  The two-player groups break into two teams.  Players stayed linked throughout the game and must pass, shoot, and so forth with their outside leg.  Throughout the game, players will switch sides with their partner on the coach’s command.  The goal of the game is to hit the cones on the goal line with a soccer ball to score a point.  It is important to build emotional intelligence because strong soccer players that are equipped with a high level of emotional intelligence can cope with the range of emotions that come with the challenges of soccer.

Soccer gives the opportunity to build emotional intelligence at any age.  By playing soccer, an individual has a stronger tool set for leadership, team projects, and many other aspects of life.  At DC Way, we focus on building emotional intelligence by providing strategies such as imagery rehearsal and step-by-step coaching.  DC Way welcomes you to start building your child’s emotional intelligence today by joining us at our upcoming One Day Camp!