New App Scores With Soccer Kids…At Home

We complain so much that kids bring their lives home with them, can a newly launched platform make that a good thing?

The app is called Famer, and this week they combined with Super Soccer Stars, a New York based youth kids soccer program that is in many markets and has over 100,000 engaged kids of various skills levels in their grassroots classes, to literally bring that practice you missed home to try out.

Simply put, Super Soccer Stars’ elite coaches will upload workouts that your young one, especially someone under 10, missed during the day for whatever reason, and the parent can then download and share with their child while at home, on whatever device they choose. The hope is that it gets kids who are sitting around doing sedentary things on a device up and active, and gets the parents more involved in youth sports, but in a fun and engaged way.

”Famer’s digital platform will become a core part of the Super Soccer Stars training curriculum going forward to enable our young athletes to tap into their full potential on and off the field,” said Adam Geisler, Super Soccer Stars CEO in a release this week announcing the partnership.

It seems to be a great marriage of tech and activity tied to sports, something missing in the youth market. “Hey I have girls who are pretty engaged in activities and know how crazy it can get, and there is always a little FOMO when a practice gets missed, you always feel like you are catching up,” said Chris Lencheski, a veteran sports marketer who teaches at Columbia University and is now CEO of Winning Streak Sports. “If there was a solution, especially a simple one, to bring the activity of practice home where my kids can engage and learn, it would have been great. It is missing in the marketplace and what Famer is doing, especially starting with soccer, makes a great deal of sense. The key will be in the user experience but it’s exciting to see how it goes.”

“Our Famer Play product allows for better communication and provides a mobile and digital extension between Super Soccer Stars’ teachings and its parents, which leads to more fun and better participation for all,” added Rich Abend, Famer CEO, who noted that the platform will continue to expand and has gotten great interest from youth basketball to baseball, all of which have the same issue; keeping kids involved and engaged when they are away from the field and on a mobile device.

There have been on demand videos for years that have met with limited success since the days of the Jane Fonda workout tapes. The difference here is the potential for custom interactivity and to eventually get feedback from Super Soccer Stars elite coaches who actually know and engage with the kids, and then to bring other kids into a virtual group session to share best practices. Static video can’t do that, and that’s where this idea can literally change the game.

“We know how tied to devices kids are, if this can take that affinity for device and make kids get up and engaged, I’m all for it,” Lencheski added.

Will this replace the ability for kids to engage with others or be in a live practice? No. But it will help solve an issue for parents, and provide another simple tool to keep youth sports, which are in decline in most sectors, a leg up.