There’s a new youth soccer clinic program in Newton—the FreeKick Initiative—which offers free clinics to children in grades 3 to 7.
Newton South soccer players Michael Shen, Ernest Lam, and Ben Briansky founded the program to provide accessible soccer instruction to kids.
Shen initially had the idea when a younger boy asked for help with his soccer playing, but said he couldn’t play competitive soccer because it was too expensive.
Shen then learned that 59% of parents say paying for sports for their kids is a financial burden. The idea for the FreeKick initiative was born. With assistance from Ed Jenkinson from Newton Youth Soccer, they have been able to begin the clinics this summer. Their first one had about 60 participants.
“Some people wished it were more competitive,” said Lam. Aside from that, the response has overwhelmingly been positive, with parents saying how much their kids enjoyed it and how they were excited it was being offered.
The next clinic will be Sunday, Aug. 25. Children are divided into groups of grades 3 to 5 and 6 to 7. All are welcome regardless of skill level or experience. In addition to the high schoolers leading the clinic, there is also adult supervision.
“Growing up playing soccer, it’s been a lot more than just playing the game,” Briansky said. “The connections with your coach and your teammates, it’s life changing,” said Briansky, adding that he, Lam, and Shen had all become good friends due to playing soccer together since childhood. He also said that he had a very positive experience as a child at youth soccer camps, and he wants to be able to now be in the counselor role.
“Being able to give back and help out the community is something we all wanted to do,” Briansky said.
In addition to the three co-founders, they have recruited numerous other Newton teenagers who play competitive soccer to staff the clinics.
One challenge they’ve had is getting parents to sign their daughters up: so far, most of the sign ups have been for boys. They are hopeful that there will be more girls participating in subsequent clinics. They have several female coaches among their staff. They’ve also been putting up soccer nets on fields that didn’t have them.
“They had goals but no nets,” said Shen.
Sometimes nets will be removed by the city for the winter, and they’re not always put back.
The founders of FreeKick would like to be able to host fall clinics but have yet to determine a schedule, due to needing to work around coaches’ pre-existing soccer lineups, and they’re hoping to have more next spring and summer as well.