Levin’s mother, Clarissa, wanted her six-year-old son, Levin, to participate in a team sport such as soccer. She felt that this experience would enhance his social and motor skills. In addition, physical activity has so many benefits for children’s physical and mental health.
There are long waitlists for young players with the Las Cruces Youth Soccer Association. Unfortunately, she could not find a coach/team that could recruit her son because he was so far down the waitlist — it would be at least a one-year wait. She decided to “take the bull by the horns” and coach her own team recruiting players ages 5-7. A young Lutheran pastor, Nathanael Jensen, joined her efforts in coaching these young kids who call themselves the “Werewolves” (Levin is fascinated with Halloween). This was a blessing in disguise as Clarissa could spend extra time working with her son.
It is not easy for a novice player with ASD to keep track of the soccer ball and what is happening on the field. What are the team players doing? Levin does sometimes lose focus and drifts off from the game.
Neurotypical kids have a greater advantage to analyze what is happening on the field by “reading” facial expressions, leg movements, etc. Teammates are informed that Levin may find it difficult to read some of their signals, but are coached to know that communication is something that can be improved with their cooperation.
As a soccer coach, Clarissa models how to dribble and pass the ball, and how to drive it into the opposing team’s goal. She coaches using verbal, visual and physical prompts. The use of storyboards are a great way to explain the mechanics of soccer like passing the ball, stopping the ball and dribbling, etc. She discovered that she didn’t need the use of storyboards as he got comfortable on the field after the first game.
She had to teach her son not to use his hands during a game. This is confusing for a child with ASD, because opposing teams shake hands (or do a hand slap) after a game. Wait, use your hands — don’t use your hands! In the below video, after Levin’s first game, Clarissa, walked him through the hand-slap that normally occurs at the end of a game. She had to model this for her son after the first game. Win or lose, the goal is to provide a fun, safe environment for kiddos to explore the world of soccer and get some exercise!