Back to School 2023 is on its way, and for those parents who have kids with endless bundles of energy and enthusiasm for sport and PE, we get you. Sometimes PE lessons are not enough, so we wanted to offer a little guide to help you navigate and find the best kinds of after school sports clubs that are perfect for your little one to help smash out some of that after school energy.

Make sure your kid is on board

Check your kid is actually happy to take on extra sport after school or on weekends. It’s probably important to make sure they’re doing a sport they love – forcing unwanted hobbies onto your child, can sometimes can even present as resentment down the line. It’s important to be doing your kids a favour by making sure they’re fully on board.

Consider your Budget

Be careful to factor school sports into your budgets, not just paying for the lesson time, but also petrol for getting to training, uniforms, sporting footwear and even extra snacks for energy. If you have to take time of work to take them to lessons, make sure you’re able to budget your time accordingly too.

Book a trial lesson

You will find that most clubs and teachers require you to book out in ‘terms’ – typically in blocks of 10 or 12 weeks. This is quite a long commitment, and as we’ve noted above, if your little one isn’t hugely feeling it, it can be a big expense that might not be refunded back – so we’ve found that some sports clubs offer taster lessons that you can trial either a 1 or 2 lesson basis to really get a feel for what goes on in the class.

Try word of mouth

Perhaps your kids’ friends are already part of an after school club – try asking around your parent friends whether they have any recommendations for local classes, it might out your little one at ease if there’s a friendly face in the class with them

Types of after school sports

There’s a whole range of after school sports that you can sign up your kids for, either at a national or local level – they tend to get booked out pretty fast, so it’s worth scoping out and signing up to waitlists where you can. For national clubs across Australia, in particular, we recommend:

• For running - Little Athletics Australia - designed for kids aged 5-15 and offers a variety of track and field and running training programs.
• For running – Junior Park Run - there are a number of park run events held across the country, they are free to join and usually consist of a weekly 2K even for 4-14 year olds. It’s recommended that you register prior to turning up.
• For Footy - Auskick – Auskick is the AFL’s official training for kids aged 5-12 – its open to all genders, and offers non contact AFL training in a fun environment for all skill levels
• For soccer - Little Kickers – Off the back of the roaring success of the Matildas in the Fifa Women’s World Cup, Soccer has never been more popular. Little Kickers offer classes from the age of 18 months with four different classes tailored to the needs of your kids.

Pack the right footwear 

Make sure you have the right kind of footwear packed in their kit based on the sport they’re doing, whether it’s indoor or outdoor soccer, or they need a specific pair of little running shoes. We highly recommend booking in an appointment with one of The Athlete’s Foot fit technicians to get appropriately fitted sports shoes so they’re fully supported on this sporting journey. These shoes can also double up for their PE lessons too, so they’re great if you’re on a budget.

Whatever sport they are into, whether it’s team or solo, we hope they enjoy embarking on this after school sports journey, and who knows, you might find your little one is a future Buddy Franklin or Sam Kerr. See you on the field after last bell.