Improving Soccer One FIRST-TOUCH at a Time

Hello soccer enthusiasts. Our mission is to INSPIRE young players to:

The entire soccer Community will play an important role and will benefit greatly.

Learn more about all Instepper Benefits and our Instepper Mission.

Getting Started

Instepper Benefits

Click on the roles that most interest you.

Player Benefits

  • Improve the most important fundamental skill in soccer; your FIRST-TOUCH (receiving the ball) using the INSIDES-OF-THE-FEET.
  • Make soccer even more fun and enjoyable.
  • Turn your soccer passion and expertise into personal grow both on and off the field.
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FIRST-TOUCH
  • EVERY PLAY begins with the FIRST-TOUCH.
  • It is the surface that can control the most passes that a player will encounter.
  • With a strong and confident FIRST-TOUCH and using both feet, you will become a better, smarter, and more versatile player, GUARANTEED!
  • Without a strong FIRST-TOUCH or poor mechanics, you will never reach your full playing potential.
  • Professionals use the insides-of-the-feet more than any other foot surface.
FUN / Enjoyment
  • If you are not having fun, they will not work at getting better.
  • Soccer should never feel like a chore.
  • If you can’t wait to get to practice or to your game, something is not right.
PERSONAL GROWTH
  • Only 7% of high school varsity players will play college soccer. Be better prepared for the day that your soccer career ends.
  • For many, soccer is your most marketable skill. Use it to develop other marketable skills.
  • Participate in activities that will:
    • Give back to the soccer community
    • Build your resume
    • Help you stand apart from other college applicants.

Mentors Age Range: Older players (approximately grades 9-12 and college players)

Mentor Benefits

  • Become the Best Player You Can Be
  • Be Better Prepared for Your Post-Soccer Career
  • Change the World
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BEST PLAYER
  • It’s never too late to learn and improve your FIRST-TOUCH.
    • The best professionals work on their FIRST-TOUCH Every Single Day!
  • It’s true, “Teaching is the best teacher.” When you teach younger players the finer art of the FIRST-TOUCH (and other skills), your FIRST-TOUCH will improve as well.
  • The best players on a team will always be the ones with the best FIRST-TOUCH.
BETTER PREPARATION
  • Only 7% of high school varsity players will play college soccer.
  • You have invested so much time and energy in your soccer career. It’s important to get a return on your investment.
  • Take your soccer passion and expertise and develop important soft skills that will serve you well in the next chapter of your life.
    • Soft skills are highly valued by employers because they are difficult to learn in the classroom. They are best developed through everyday experiences.
    • Some of the soft skills that Instepper Mentors develop are: Communication, Innovation, Creativity, Emotional intelligence, Collaboration, Adaptability, Leadership, Time management, Work ethic, Listening, etc.
  • Instepper believes that every soccer player, regardless of their on-field talent, has the power to Change the World.
    • Perhaps you do the Heart & SOUL drill at an Instepper Day event with a young kid and he/she decides to play soccer the following year.
    • Or you complete a 10-lesson Instepper course and your mentee ends up making the Comp team.
  • Instepper hopes that your Mentoring experiences will give you the confidence and aspirations to Change the World.
CHANGE THE WORLD

Mentee Age Range: Younger players (approximately grades K-8)

At this age, soccer should be all about:

  • Dreaming about becoming the next Christian Pulisic or Sarah Mallory Swanson. Dream BIG!
  • Learning about and working on all fundamental soccer skills (no headers, please!)
  • Discovering your passion for soccer
  • Having fun!

Mentee Benefits

  • Mentors will making learning FUN!
  • Learn the importance of a good FIRST-TOUCH.
  • Learn the proper mechanics when receiving a ball with the insides-of-the-feet (and other skills).
  • Develop both your right and left feet.
  • Develop proper muscle memory.
  • Learn the importance of working on your fundamentals.
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IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST-TOUCH
  • Knowledge Is Power. By visiting Instepper, you are already smarter knowing the importance of the FIRST-TOUCH.
  • When you understand the importance of something, you will devote the necessary time to improve it.
  • Without a strong FIRST-TOUCH foundation you will never reach your full playing potential.
MECHANICS
  • The optimal way to receive a ball is with the inside-of-the-foot using Heart & SOUL.
  • Lots of players (and coaches) don’t know the proper mechanics.
  • It is not an easy skill to learn.
RIGHT & LEFT FEET
  • If you are only right-footed or only-left-footer, you are only half a player.
  • Players must be comfortable using both feet.
muscle memory
  • The FIRST-TOUCH must be committed to muscle memory.
  • Your FIRST-TOUCH must be instinctual.
  • If a player has to think about their FIRST-TOUCH, it won’t be very good.
FUNDAMENTALS
  • In order to improve at something, you must be willing to put in the time.
  • There are no such things are shortcuts.

Instepper will help develop your child on and off the field.

Instepper is also keenly aware that for many families, soccer can be expensive. Instepper has many options that can help reduce or eliminate the cost of playing.

Parent Benefits

  • Make your child more confident on and off the field.
  • Develop an appreciation for developing a strong fundamental foundation.
  • Provide your child with alternative learning and development options.
  • Focus on mental health.
  • Help your older children prepare for life after soccer.
  • Every player has the opportunity for growth, regardless of talent.
  • Help develop important life soft skills that will help them in college, workforce, and life.
  • Make soccer more affordable.
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SAVE MONEY
  • Mentors can mentor to earn extra money.
  • Large FUNdraising activities/events can raise a lot of money quickly.
  • Your Club may choose to offer credits if your child volunteers their mentoring services.
  • Supplemental training from a Mentor is inexpensive and will ‘Change 2 Lives’.
CONFIDENCE
  • A confident child will believe he/she can do anything.
FUNDAMENTALS
  • Players working on their FIRST-TOUCH will see immediate benefits.
  • Besides sports, fundamentals are part of the classroom and workforce.
    • Understanding the importance and the willingness to put in the time and effort to develop fundamentals will pay huge future dividends.
ALTERNATIVES
  • Cross-aged mentoring benefits both the mentee (young player) and the mentor (older player)
  • Reduces the chance of training becoming stale which lessens the chance of burnout.
MENTAL HEALTH
  • Instepper strives to make all of its interactions are stress-free as possible.
    • Younger players mentored by older players is much less stressful than being coached by parents or adult coaches.
    • An alarming number of potentially great athletes quit their sports because they get burned out. Instepper provides a nice respite.
  • Instepper is all about Having FUN!
  • Instepper encourages mistakes. How else will your children learn?
life after soccer
  • Many players are ill-prepared when for the day of their final high school game, especially the good players.
  • It would be a huge, missed opportunity if your child did not take advantage of their soccer passion and expertise to develop other important and marketable skills.
growth
  • Not all players on a team are given the same developmental opportunities.
  • Leadership development usually goes to the captains and/or keepers.
  • It’s usually the best players that get to play different positions and be more involved in set plays.
  • Instepper encourages all players to become Mentors, regardless of ability.
soft skills
  • Soft skills are highly coveted by employers
  • They can’t be taught in the classroom
  • Some examples are: Leadership, communication, collaboration, emotional intelligence, etc.

Coach Benefits

Inexperienced / House / Younger Team Coaches

  • Make your players’ soccer experience(s) more memorable and FUN!
  • Expand your soccer knowledge.
  • Introduce and reinforce proper fundamental mechanics.

Experienced / Competitive / Older Team Coaches

  • Let you to spend more on time tactics and less on the technical drills.
  • Your players will be more technically-sound, smarter, and more vocal if they mentor.
  • Mix things up.
  • Help your players stay in phenomenal shape.
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FUN!

Younger Team Coaches

  • At this age and level, it should be all about FUN!
  • Instill in your players the love of soccer and sports
KNOWLEDGE

Younger Team Coaches

  • Soccer is a very unique and nuanced sport. Name another sport with this level of eye-foot coordination.
  • Let passionate and experienced players mentor you and your players.
MECHANICS

Younger Team Coaches

  • Proper mechanics make better and more confident players.
  • When players feel like they are doing well, they will play next season.
MORE TACTIC TIME

Older Team Coaches

  • Your value to your players and Club is your soccer knowledge/experience. Spending a lot of time on mechanics is not the best use of your time.
  • Chefs have sous chefs. Instepper can play the roll of sous coach.
BETTER PLAYERS

Older Team Coaches

  • The more ‘coaches’ you have on the fields, the less time you will need to coach from the sidelines.
  • Your players will be able comprehend and apply more sophisticated game tactics.
  • Some players will blossom after mentoring in ways you may not have expected.
MIX IT UP

Older Team Coaches

  • Keep things fresh and players engaged
    • Practices and games can be intense. Your players will benefit from a less-intense, stress-free activity
    • Help build team chemistry and camaraderie
CONDITIONING

Older Team Coaches

  • Better shape means less conditioning time during practice
  • Better shape equals less injuries

Team Benefits

  • Younger and older teams will develop strong fundamental skills that will lead to more successes on the field.
  • Older teams will raise incredible amounts of money through player-run FUNdraisers.
  • Experience the Power of ‘TEAM’.
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FUNDRAISERS
  • Registration fees, coaches, tournament, travel expenses, etc. Someone has to pay for all of this.
  • Donors are much more likely to donate or buy services when players play on active role in their FUNdraiser and are doing something beneficial for the community.
  • Well-received and value-added FUNdraisers will have donors coming back year-after-year.
POWER OF TEAM
  • Players will be parts of many teams or groups throughout their lives. Experiencing ‘success’ early will pay dividends down the road.
    • ‘Success’ does not necessarily need to be defined by wins
  • Teams that unite and take on new challenges (i.e., FUNdraisers) off the field will grow as a team on the field
  • Teams that ‘Give Back’ will be rewarding and life changing for all involved
    • Helping the under privileged or less fortunate is important.

Club Benefits

  • Differentiate your Club from other clubs and attracts more members.
  • Attract more sponsors.
  • Offer your older players opportunities for personal growth so they are better prepared for life once they age-out.
  • Achieve more successes on the field.
  • Build a stronger, more unified Club/Community.
  • Reinforce your Club’s philosophies, mission, and vision.
  • Increase the number of soccer offerings.
  • Provide families/players with options to offset memberships costs.
  • Help members make a difference in your Community and beyond.
  • Create a pipeline of young coaches, assistance coaches, and referees.
  • Entice more teams to your tournaments.

High School Benefits

  • Provide all players with an opportunity to use their passion and soccer experience to develop important soft skills that will serve them for the rest of their lives.
  • Raise a lot of funds quickly and from many sources.
  • Incorporate alternative training and development sources (especially important given the short high school season.
  • Offer varsity players many growth opportunities (in addition to mentoring).
  • Build team, high school, and community spirit.
  • Increase on-field successes.
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GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES
  • For Instepper to be successful, all Instepper activities and services must be run by players.
  • In one example, freshmen and JV players can mentor the younger players and Varsity players can mentor the freshmen and JV. Varsity players would be as well as running all aspects of Instepper program.

College Benefits

  • Provide your players with unique opportunities for professional growth.
    • Your players are one step away from careers.
    • Instepper offers business/entrepreneurial/coaching opportunities
  • Chance for players to give back to the their youth Clubs.
    • They can implement and manage the Clubs’ new Mentoring program
    • They can earn extra money and/or raise money for their Club.
  • Attract more recruits.
  • Improved fundamental skills will translate to better performances on the field.
  • Differentiate your program from other college programs.
  • Increase your fan base, especially among young fans.
    • Increase home attendance.
  • Extend your school’s reach in your and your players’ communities.
  • Keep injured or red-shirted players engaged and improving
  • Raise money.

Instepper Mission Explained

FIRST-TOUCH

Why is the FIRST-TOUCH in all caps?

  • The FIRST-TOUCH is the most important fundamental skill in soccer.
  • A good FIRST-TOUCH will lead to a better second touch.
  • Every play begins with a FIRST-TOUCH.
  • Players must have a good FIRST-TOUCH to reach their full playing potential.
  • The players with the best FIRST-TOUCH are the best players on the team.
FUNDAMENTALS

What would you rather choose–BOREdamentals or FUNdamentals?

  • Most fundamentals are repetitive, time-consumption, and BOREing.
  • Instepper FUNdamentals are different. They include:
    • Awesome Mentoring Program.
    • Addictive Challenges.
    • Fun and creative drills.

When players learn to appreciate the importance of fundamentals and have fun working on them, they will be more successful at EVERYTHING they do, not just soccer.

FUNDRAISING

No one likes to fundraise. Everyone loves to FUNdraise!

Instepper promotes in a player-run, service-oriented FUNdraising approach. Our FUNdraisers are impactful and lucrative.

  • Service-oriented activities that ‘do good’ attract more donors.
  • Donors will contribute more money if players (not parents) are fully invested in raising money for themselves, team, or Club.
  • FUNdraisers will expose players to activities and experiences that will help development important skills off the field.
  • Incorporating the latest fundraising technologies will substantially increase donations

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SKILLS
  • Running a mentoring program and organizing Instepper Days is full of learning opportunities and development.
  • Donors will want to contribute to and foster these skills.
TECHNOLOGY
  • Givebutter is an excellent site that will supercharge an Instepper FUNdraiser.
  • Who better to understand and utilize technology than kids?
CHANGE THE WORLD

Can a FIRST-TOUCH Change the World? Yes it can!

  • A better FIRST-TOUCH will make better players.
  • Mentors who help younger players “Change 2 Lives”: the mentee’s life and their own.
  • The entire soccer Community must play a vital role for change to occur.

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PLAYERS
  • Better players start to exude more confidence.
  • More confidence will lead players are more apt to push beyond any perceived limits.
MENTORS
  • Teaching (mentoring) is a great teacher.
  • Mentors will develop important life/soft skill they take with them anywhere.
  • Expand your reach/change further. Reach out to your community. Offer more services/programs that will change the lives of more players.
COMMUNITY
  • Parents, coaches, Clubs, school! Thank you for all that you do to change the lives of your children/players every day.
  • Let’s do even more to help the next generation flourish and lead.