Level

Beginner

What is AYSO Kickstart?

AYSO Kickstart is AYSO’s entry-level soccer experience, designed to reimagine early play environments, spark joy, and help kids fall in love with the game from day one. Grounded early-childhood and sporting research, Kickstart transforms traditional practice into child-centered play. Sessions feature fast-moving activities and modified small-sided games that create a lively, sandlot-style jamboree experience. Kickstart is typically offered for the youngest and first-time players and serves as the first step in the AYSO player pathway.

Much more than a program, Kickstart completely reimagines what the youth soccer environment should be!

What does a Kickstart session include?

Every Kickstart session includes:

• A fundamental motor skill activity, such as skipping,balancing or twisting
• A game-like soccer activity to gradually build skill and game-understanding
• The Big Match, a modified small-sided game (2v2 or 3v3) played with four small goals for more excitement, and live restarts to help maximize ball-rolling time

There are no standings, no pressure, and no waiting around. Each session also weaves a subtle social and emotional learning theme, like helping others, sharing, or teamwork, to help create a more holistic learning and play environment.

How do parents participate?

From helping guide their child’s movement skills to keeping the ball in play with live restarts, Parents are very much part of the Kickstart experience! For many children, Kickstart is their first organized activity, and parent involvement is intentionally built into the format to help make that first experience positive and memorable.

Is there competition in AYSO Kickstart?

The jamboree format shifts the focus from team standings and priorities to individual growth and child-centered play, giving kids more freedom to imagine, explore, and enjoy the game.

Kickstart was shaped by a national U.S. Soccer research project involving AYSO and other soccer organizations across the country, all working to better understand what creates the best possible first soccer experience: joy, connection, confidence, and a love of the game.