Community Provider Spotlight on: Sports Saints, In-Person PE Instruction

In this episode, Sage Oak Community Provider, Ryan Beard, of SportsSaints.org, shares the value of in-person PE, sports, and S.T.E.A.M. instruction for kids.  Sports Saints S.T.E.A.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math) lessons teach students concepts such as the effect of strength conditioning and hydration on the body, the angles of sports maneuvers, and how the teamwork required for engineering buildings and bridges correlates to the teamwork required on the field.

Sports Saints offers single-sport and multi-sport options including soccer, baseball, tennis, and golf for TK-9th grade students at various times and locations.  Students can take weekly classes or participate in multi-day camps throughout the year.  

For more information, visit www.sportssaints.org.

Thank you for listening to the Sage Studio podcast presented by Sage Oak Charter Schools and hosted by Tiffiny Webster, M.A.Ed. We invite you to follow the show and leave your review below. Sage Oak Charter Schools is an independent study nonclassroom based TK-12 personalized learning public charter school serving students in Southern California. Visit sageoak.education for more information.

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Transcript

Tiffiny: 0:14

Well, welcome to another episode of Sage Studio. I'm Tiffiny Webster, and today I am joined by one of our Sage Oak community providers, Ryan Beard of Sports Saints. So welcome to the

Ryan: 0:25

podcast, Ryan. Thank you. Thank you so much for having

Tiffiny: 0:28

us. We are so excited to talk to you today because our parents are always asking if we offer sports so I thought it'd be perfect to bring you on today to just shed a little light for us on how it works to take in-person classes with one of our Sage Oak community providers, because parents are always looking to get their kids involved in something where they're going to be active and meeting other kids and just having that great experience. So introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about Sports Saints okay,

Ryan: 0:58

great. So, I'm Ryan, I'm one of the coaches at Sports Saints and I'm from Southampton in England. And so, the local soccer team there is the Saints. So they're a professional team. And so we decided to name the company after them. Sports Saints Got, love it. Yeah. And then we have a couple of different kind of brands within Sports Saints. So, they all end in saints. So you know, Golf Saints, Baseball Saints, Tennis Saints, and also Soccer Saints. Think I've gone ahead and confused a lot of people

Tiffiny: 1:29

already. I think that's great. You're already like right out of the gate, like letting us know. Wow. You offer so many types of sports for kids, which I think our parents are going to be very interested in because they often will have kids that are also like multi-passionate about different sports or they have within their family, someone who likes to golf, someone who likes to play soccer. And it's good to know that you're kind of that one stop shop for all those different sports activities. So Very cool. Now, are you an expert in all these different sports? Do you coach everything

Ryan: 1:57

I. I, yes I do. We have other coaches that specialize. Okay. You know, they're, they're really good at, at certain sports. But yeah, I, I do make my way around to all of them. And then I'm one of the multi-sport coaches. And so it's been really fun. Like developing all the curriculums and then, teaching it to coaches and coaches, then teaching it to children. It's, it's a nice experience. Not just for the kids, but you know, for the coaches and even for the parents too.

Tiffiny: 2:25

Talk to me about like, where should kids start? Is there a certain sport that they should start in? Is there like a certain, like basic skill levels that students have? Where should most kids start when it comes to playing sports?

Ryan: 2:38

That's a great question and, and it's really open-ended. If they, if they can listen, If they can react to what you're saying, then that's, that's the perfect age and we all develop at different, you know, ages and levels anyway. So I, I'm a big fan, especially, you know, those like young classes, I think soccer is a really good one.

Tiffiny: 2:58

So even our students, like our youngest students are TK, Kindergarten students. You think soccer would probably be a good place for them to start with? Kind of starting with that balancing, starting with that footwork.

Ryan: 3:09

Absolutely. Yeah. And it's all progressive learning. So we take what we've learned you know, in lesson one and we, we just add onto it as the classes go by. So yeah, they, they get further than they think that they would and the parents, also kind of attribute to that as well and kind of go, wow, you know, I can't believe how much they're actually learning here. We work with a lot of TKs, a lot of kindergartners, and, and as I said, as well, even younger. So you

Tiffiny: 3:35

talked about all the things that they're learning and already some of the things that you've mentioned are beyond the actual physical skills. They are learning how to listen to a teacher. Listen to a coach, how to try new skills, how to work through something if it doesn't come easily to them. So there's already a lot of different benefits that they are receiving from these. So talk to us a little bit about what is really the value that sports brings to kids.

Ryan: 4:00

I think a lot of character development it brings you know, we work with, with kids that are only children an only child or we work with kids from, from really big families. And we see like what one maybe has a lot of experience with. And what one. Isn't exposed to. So it could be like sharing for example. So yeah, teaching them that in soccer we want to, you know, share and the way that we share is to pass the ball is, is a really big deal. I think one of the things as well that, that we bring that might be different to other vendors out there is we're S.T.E.A.M. infused. So, one of the reasons behind that is to bridge the gap between the athletics and the academics. So we'll actually, instead of just, you know, sending the kids off for a water break they'll learn something to do with S.T.E.A.M. halfway through, under the cabana in the shade and. So it acts as like a little cool down hydration break, but you know, if we're learning about you know, engineering and bridges and where we might find bridges and why they're built and so on and so forth, and have a few little trivia bits like, where's the longest bridge in the world? And some of the most famous bridges and pictures of them and things like that. But then it's the case of, okay, so, you know, we, we talked about bridges and, and how it takes a huge team to build them well. It takes a huge team to, you know, be able to have an effective soccer team. Like, in anything that we do. Yeah,

Tiffiny: 5:26

I love that way of talking to the kids about that. And I was just going to ask you, okay, wait, connect the dots for me. How does the conversation about Bridges on a water break connect to the soccer team? But I, but I totally see how it does. And, you know, just for parents out there, S.T.E.A.M stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. Did I get'em all? I think so. And so, that's right. I love, I love that you are that you are connecting those concepts to the team environment and to the field, because I think you're right. I, I think that that does help to to kind of give perspective to the students and to help them see, oh, I, I understand how the skills that I'm learning here can transfer into the real world or into other things that they see. So. Awesome. Good, good on you for adding that part in. Sports really helps kids learn what it feels like to get in the game, right? Like literally and metaphorically, they learn what it's like to take action. They learn what it's like to, have an effect on something or to contribute or to really get in there. So I think those are really positive skills. So talk to me a little bit about how the whole thing works. Do kids come in at different levels? Do you have like basic intermediate? Do pick kids come in at certain grade levels? Do they pick a sport? I mean, there's probably lots of ways to slice and dice this, so tell me how, how it works in Sports Saints

Ryan: 6:40

So we have a 3 to 5 year old curriculum. We have an elite curriculum that's 6 to 10, and then we have a super elite curriculum, which is basically 10 to 14. And so the elite curriculums are all basically club level coaching. Okay. That you would see. You know, clubs around, you know, the different areas that we're in. We offer the curriculums in just one sport. So you could go into a soccer class, a tennis class, a golf class, a baseball class. And then we also do. A multi-sport option as well, so where the kids will, you know, play soccer for a couple of weeks and then tennis for a couple of weeks, and so on and so forth. Like I asked them at the end, but what was your favorite? And they go, all of them. And I'm like, that's great. Like it's, it's so exciting that they're just like, I, I never, you know, had a chance to play all these different sports. I was told you've gotta pick one and move three. You know, we like variety, you know, as adults and so are there as kids. I'm like, so cool.

Tiffiny: 7:43

And I think, you know what, I think parents will really like that you offer that multi-sport option because just giving a chance to try something that they maybe wouldn't have otherwise is a really great thing. And it doesn't surprise me that that's a popular option for both the parents and kids, because I think they like that variety like you said.

Ryan: 8:00

Yeah. Yeah, it's true. Yeah, the parents really enjoy it too.

Tiffiny: 8:04

What are the different choices as far as signing up for your camps?

Ryan: 8:07

We split our kind of offerings between two things classes and camps. Okay. So, if you want a class that's usually one hour a week, and usually for about 10 weeks and then a camp is usually Monday through Friday in the morning. Most of our registrations take place on sports saints.org. And then from there, if you want soccer, you can just click on the soccer logo and it takes you to all of the soccer classes. And then there are quick links on the homepage if you're looking for a specific class, you can just click on that and it'll take you there.

Tiffiny: 8:39

Got it. Okay. So if parents were interested in using their instructional funds to pay for these classes throughout the year, they're going to go on your website, get a little bit more information about what you're offering and what they're most interested in they can talk to their teachers about placing the PO orders for what's listed on the website. Is that right? Yes, Can parents, can they enroll in camps throughout the year or are camps just offered in the summertime?

Ryan: 9:06

No, actually we do offer spring camps holiday camps in the winter and summer camps. But yeah, we're we're all year round as well.

Tiffiny: 9:14

When parents enroll their kids in these classes, how many students can they expect are going to be in each class? Or how many different sports are you running at a time? Can you explain a little bit about what it looks like when they actually show up to the field?

Ryan: 9:26

Yes, of course. So usually you'll see a sea of red because they all get their Sports Saints or Soccer Saints or Tennis Saints t-shirts. Okay. So you'll always see them and that's a really cool little bit that I'll, I'll have to touch on in a second as well. And then I want to say minimum is six students, although sometimes we run with five. And then maximum is 18. But sometimes on those bigger classes we'll divide for certain, group games. So that the, coach, the student ratio is, is a lot lower. That's always what we're looking for.

Tiffiny: 9:59

What is the grade level or the age range that you divide the kids into?

Ryan: 10:03

So usually three to five year olds and then six to 10 year olds. Those are our most popular. And then, yeah, 10 to 14 for the older ones as well. So those are the, the kind of age groups that are split. So, you know, there'll be a young class going on at the same time as an elite class. And then sometimes it'll be one after the other. Oh, got it. So sort of like a, a nine o'clock and then a 10 o'clock.

Tiffiny: 10:25

And are all of the different sports that you offer, are they all offered at the same location?

Ryan: 10:30

It depends for example like let's just say we have Murrieta Community Center as one of our locations. They really don't have too much of a grass area there, but they do have a tennis court so that's where we offer group tennis classes, but we don't offer soccer classes there because, there's not the space for it. For our multi-sport parks, most of them will also have like a big grass field and then a basketball court area. For multi-sport classes they're not doing every single sport every single week. They'll just cover one sport for a couple of weeks and then sort of transition onto the next sport.

Tiffiny: 11:03

Perfect. Okay. I know that our listeners are thinking, how is this going to work? Am I going to be taking my kids to all different fields at all different times or all different age ranges? But you have made it easy for them.

Ryan: 11:15

Yeah. And then I was going to say as well, they're starting in September we have classes that are really geared for children one is on Thursday and one is on Friday. And it's 1130 to 12:30. And so that's really designed for families so that they're not having to, you know, go somewhere after school. Some feedback that we got from, from families that was like, it would be great to have something during the day. We can use our funds for it, we can do it in the day, and then, you know, it doesn't eat into family time. So, we're really looking forward to starting those. I think

Tiffiny: 11:48

that's a great call. I think our parents are really going to appreciate having some options for some of your sports classes during the day, because I think you're right. That is when they've designated their learning time and PEs a part of that. And so being able to incorporate some of these organized PE activities with a coach who's an expert in this area I think that is a real win-win for parents to be able to do that right in the middle of the day when it works best for them. Okay. You were going to tell us something about the red shirts. So tell us what is so special about the red shirts. I want to know.

Ryan: 12:19

So, when we are talking about building new curriculums and branching to different age groups and so on the topic of competition always comes up. And at the beginning I was kind of against it, you know, I was like, I don't think that we should be competitive. But the kids wanted it and the families were like, this is something that we really want. So the cool thing is, is that, You know, they'll all have their soccer saints t-shirts and they're all red and they've got their big logo on them, and so they can see each other a mile away. And so when they go onto teams, they'll put the yellow pennies on or you know, jerseys over the top or blue or, red or white sometimes we'll do World Cup competitions too, especially for summer camps. So we'll literally use all four different color jerseys and they get to choose a country that they all want to represent and but at the end, you know, sometimes the kids all, be a little teary-eyed if their team didn't win. But I, I tell them like, All take off the jerseys and, you know, put them on the table. Now look, we're all the same team. Hmm. Like we're all wearing the same jersey. We're all here for the same reason, which is to learn to have fun. You know, our pillars with Sports Saint, so safety, fun, and education. And our mantra is education through fun. So as, as long as we've stayed safe, had fun, and learned a little something, we've always succeeded.

Tiffiny: 13:39

Life lessons, right? Life lessons. Well, I think you're doing such a great job teaching them how to leave it all on the field. I think you have left it all on the field today. You've given us so much great information to help our parents better understand what you offer and how it works and, and how it's so much more than just sports that your organization is bringing. So thank you so much for joining us and sharing all that information. Again, if you want to find out more information about this organization, you can go to sportssaints.org and check out all of their different offerings and then talk to your teacher, see what different classes would fit well into your child's schedule, and your teacher can support you in placing those POs. All right, Ryan, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. Thanks for being here.

Ryan: 14:24

Thanks, Tiffiny. Thank you so much.