Los Angeles · Ages 3–12
Youth soccer training that treats a first touch like it matters, because to a seven-year-old it does. Private sessions and small groups across LA, run by one coach who learns every player's name in week one.
The short version
Kickin' It is not a franchise with a logo and a rotating staff. It is Luke Buckley, a ball bag, and a standing appointment with a few dozen kids around Los Angeles who are getting quietly, unmistakably better.
Some of them want to make a club team. Some of them want to stop being nervous about the ball coming toward them. Both are real goals, and both get a plan.
1 player
Sixty minutes where nobody else is waiting for a turn. Weak foot, first touch, striking, the one habit that keeps costing them the ball. Progress is fast because there is nowhere to hide and no line to stand in.
Small groups
The part kids actually remember: teammates, small-sided games, and a scoreline that resets every five minutes. Groups stay small on purpose, so a session never turns into nine kids watching one kid dribble.
Getting started
Age, how much they have played, and what you are hoping changes. Two sentences is plenty. "She is six and hides from the ball" is a genuinely useful brief.
Coach Luke replies with the sessions that fit, the closest fields, times that are open, and what it costs. If a group would serve your child better than privates, he will say so.
Shin guards, water, shoes that can run. First session is mostly about whether your child leaves wanting to come back, because if they do, everything else follows.
Why parents stay
Before you ask
Roughly ages 3 to 12. The youngest players spend most of a session playing games that happen to be soccer drills. Older players get real technical work — first touch, striking, change of direction, decision-making under pressure. If your child sits at the edge of that range, ask. Coach Luke would rather tell you honestly whether it is a good fit than sell you a session.
No. A good share of players arrive having never kicked a ball on purpose. Nobody gets picked last here, because nobody gets picked at all. The first session is about getting comfortable with the ball and finishing with a reason to come back.
Coach Luke Buckley. Not a rotating staff, not a coach you meet for the first time in week four. He runs the sessions himself, which is the whole reason he can tell you what your child worked on that day.
Cleats or running shoes, shin guards, a full water bottle, and clothes that are allowed to get grass-stained. Bring a ball if you have one. If you do not, there are plenty.
Send one message with your child's age and how much they have played. You will get back the sessions that actually fit, and what they cost. That is the whole process.
