Mi Escuelita

Gunner is one of our beloved parents from Mi Escuelita. Feel free to get in touch with him and enquire about this fantastic opportunity!

After a one year sabbatical in Germany studying the newest youth soccer developments first-hand, I am happy to offer soccer class for our youngest ones as part of my program “Soccer in the Park”. Please find the important infos below.

Best regards,

Gunnar father of Nani (2 years), Lilli (6 years) and Noah (8 years)
 
Mission Statement:
Soccer is unique in bringing people together all around the world to enjoy a sport without any means except just a ball. Its pure fun to kick, pass, head the ball on a goal with friends. And it doesn't take that much to get started.
In our toddler soccer-group we will explore the love and passion for the game. Focusing on the basic movements that makes soccer such a fascinating sport, we will exercise our whole body in general and our foot skills in particular. We will enjoy passing and shooting the ball, learn to control and move around with it and get a feeling for the sense of our body and the game of soccer itself. 

Curriculum and goals:
Through different set ups, games, and plays the children will grasp their fascination for movements. A simple but diverse training schedule will keep it fun and creative - ranging from funny warm up games to challenging exercises with the ball. The class is especially designed to help every child to thrive individually in the game of soccer and pays attention to their individual development. Through this design the class provides confidence to the participating children and encourage them to encounter new sportive challenges even beyond soccer.

Organisation:
We will meet every Saturday starting from October 15th from 9am until 10am on the lawn at the North End of McCarren Park close to Lorimer Str (unless its rainy or bitterly cold). In case November and Dezember surprises us with dry weekends we will continue our group late into winter.

The participating children should be age 2-4. Please dress your children in clothes that enable them to exercise their body easily and don't constrain their movements. Sneakers at their feet allow a great touch for the ball. Every child needs to bring a ball size 1 or 2 to the sessions since they will be behind the ball at all time. It doesn't have to a be soccer ball as long as it has the right size, is bouncy and is light enough to be kicked and thrown into the air. For the little breaks throughout the class I suggest that every child has a water bottle waiting for it at the sidelines and some light snacks after class is finished.

The tuition is 10 US Dollars per session payed at the same day after class dismissal.

The coach:
Gunnar Hammerschmidt has run "Soccer in the Park" for the past 5 years, a program especially designed to provide children with confidence in their body and to provide the basic skills and movements of soccer. Having played and lived soccer throughout his life, Gunnar embarked on a new journey as a youth soccer coach after his son Noah was born and literally demanded to grow up with a ball at his feet. "Soccer in the Park" builds upon the diverse youth soccer curriculum of German Soccer Federation (DFB) and integrates experiences that Gunnar gained through his close contacts with coaches from soccer clubs as Blau Weiss Gottschee, Union Berlin and Empor Berlin. Soccer is for him a fascinating sport that helps you to stay healthy and that can become a life long lasting passion. 

Contact:
Parents who are interested to have their children participate in this class please contact the coach under his email address gunnar.hammerschmidt@gmx.de
Don’t hesitate to ask me additional questions.

Community is more than just a location or a collection of individuals who happen to live or work in the same place. When MI ESCUELITA talks about a ‘sense of community’ we usually mean the quality of the relationships and connections that bring people together rather than just the fact that we see each other regularly on South 3rd Street.
While the saying ‘it takes a village to raise a child’ may have become a cliché, the idea behind it—that children grow up as a part of a group—remains an important one. Children develop in the context of a community. How we acknowledge this and engage with our own neighbors will have a significant impact on children and families, as well as on our own ways of working.For children, a sense of community plays an important role in the development of their feelings of belonging and security. Children thrive in an environment of mutually supportive and caring relationships. For this reason developing a sense of connection has been a crucial part of our mission at MI ESCUELITA for over ten years. It is valuable for children to feel part of a wider world that extends beyond the learning environment. As they grow and develop, connections to the outside world help them to find their place and to develop an understanding of how society’s shared values work.

For many families, MI ESCUELITA provides a first contact with a broader network beyond the home. Because of this, MI ESCUELITA acts as an important point of connection for families. We can foster supportive relationships between families as well as outreach to other organizations and services in our local area. Recognizing and building these bonds are simple ways to engage with our neighborhood. Finding time and effective ways to engage can be challenging, especially in a place like NYC, we tend to think ‘big’, however small is beautiful!

Ask yourself, who do I already know? And importantly, who else do they know? Even within the smallest group, the number of connections will be surprisingly large—a parent who can play guitar or teaches yoga, someone who has an art show, or simply wants to share one of his/her talents.

We feel extremely privileged and honored to be a space that honors a sense of connection. Please continue to reach out to your community of MI ESCUELITA friends and family at local area events, in public spaces, at each other’s homes, and on social media. In support us, we have several tools available to MI ESCUELITA’s network: our website ,and our new Facebook page. As always, feel free to email and call us with any great ideas for connections.

Please connect and share your projects, events, and most importantly your thoughts on how we can continue growing in this amazing place called Brooklyn and keep building our great community!