My son has been playing i9 basketball and my husband has been coaching i9 basketball for several seasons. My son also just completed the Nike Kids Camp at the Montessori School of Raleigh. All of these experiences have been great for us and my son loved the camp.
First and foremost is the ease of having practice and games back to back so the scheduling is streamlined and easy for families to participate. This season has been the best i9 experience for us because of two major things - 1. indoor sports don't have to worry about weather cancellations which has been an issue in the past and 2. STELLAR coaches who communicate regularly. Thanks for all i9 continues to do to make sports accessible and supportive across the triangle.
Our coach for soccer was absolutely amazing! It made my daughter's first time playing soccer exceptional and she wants to continue. The only negative feedback I have is that when the schedule time changes, you send out a reminder email. More than half the class, including myself (a very detailed oriented person) was not aware of the time change and my daughter was incredibly disappointed to show up to her game being over. Other than that, great experience!
The programs have been fairly easy to simply show up each week and participate. The referees are doing a good job keeping the game moving but also friendly with the kids. The only "opportunity" we see currently is clearer communication - some of the emails are unclear and/or "disjointed" when trying to share information. But overall it's been a good experience.
The focus is more on teaching kids to love the game and less on performance. As they grow, as established love for the game will foster a commitment and passion that will ultimately drive their development into an exceptional athlete. Too much pressure on performance too soon on can have the opposite effect leading to a dislike and unwillingness to participate in the sport.
It’s a good program to introduce beginners to the sport, and the schedule commitment is also realistic of having practice before the game so that parents do not have to deal with the burden of multiple commitments a week.