ABOUT THE NAOFA

BUILDING HEALTHY BODIES & HAPPY HEARTS

GET ACTIVE

Active kids are happy, healthy kids! Introducing sports early on will help kids to learn fitness fundamentals, teamwork, leadership, and responsibility. We use our youth sports programs to promote positive mental and physical development in our youth.

MAKE KIDS SMILE

When coaches make sports FUN kids are more likely to stick with them. We don’t believe sports should feel like pressure. We train and certify our coaches so they are true experts on the best practices for teaching kids.

STAY HEALTHY

The NAofA is on a mission to help motivate kids to live an active, happy, healthy lifestyle. We believe if they start on this path as a child, they will learn valuable life lessons, create good habits and grow to be happy, healthy adults.

GET OFF SCREENS

Children who spend most of their time glued to a screen when they are young are proven to be more at risk of developing emotional, psychological and physical health problems by the time they become teenagers. Young children are missing out on key aspects of their brain development when they spend too much time staring at a screen instead of interacting with the outside world.

MAKE FRIENDS

Making friends is one of the most important missions of middle childhood—a social skill that will endure throughout their lives. Kids sports programs, and playing team sports, are incredible ice-breakers for kids to get to know more kids and be social. Often these friendships turn into life-long friendships.

IMPROVE SKILLS

Not all kids dream of being professional athletes, but some do! Our first and foremost goal is to introduce kids to sports. Knowing the fundamentals is important so kids can play and communicate with other kids. They learn what it means to be on a team, how to listen, communicate with peers, and that it is ok to lose.

Play

About the NAofA

Learn about the NAofA! The NAofA offers kid’s youth programs that are specifically designed to help children of all abilities. The goal of our programs is that kids will have tons of fun, learn sport-specific skills, and gain confidence on and off the field. We teach children about success, failure, and what it means to be part of a team. Our highly trained and NAofA Certified coaches provide an enthusiastic place for kids to fall in love with their chosen sport.

NAofA Certified Coaches

All programs are led by a highly traind team of NAofA Certified coaches and instructors. Each coach is carefully selected to ensure each camper’s safety, skill development & individual enjoyment. We then take each coach through a very in-depth training process that includes safety, social and emotional learning (SEL) and our trademarked teaching method talk.teach.PLAY!® We encourage all our campers to play with confidence, enthusiasm, and a love for the game.

Teaching Youth Sports the Way They Were Meant to be Taught

Throughout the entire year, it is the mission of the National Academy of Athletics to provide Youth Sports Programs to community children. While school is in session, we work with schools to fulfill their Physical Education requirements mandated by the Department of Education. Instead of kids standing around outside with an English or History teacher, our team steps in to instruct Physical Education programs for kids. The NAofA sports programs for kids put the fun back into P.E.! Teachers also appreciate not having the responsibility of additionally teaching P.E. and favor the time to work on their lesson plans or grade papers. It’s a true win-win!

During the school year, we work with municipalities to provide NAofA kids sports programs during breaks, holidays, and teacher work days. This offers parents the ability to leave their kids with us while they may still need to go to work. It offers kids a great way to get active, stay healthy, and have fun during their school breaks. Parents can either find our camps at their local Community Center or right at their school.

Partnering with Municipalities that Need Our Help

Municipalities throughout California and many other states have partnered with the NAofA to provide the children in their communities with the best sports programs out there! By partnering with the NAofA we offer these cities a solution to provide a local Area Captain, the best coaches, a wide variety of sports to choose from, and an easier way for them to balance their staffing and budgets. During Summers you’ll find NAofA youth sports programs at over 100 locations.

Youth Leagues value the support the NAofA provides. When we partner with a league, we provide training courses for the volunteer parents, coaches, and referees. Our courses get everyone involved in working together. Volunteer parents, who often have never coached or managed a team before, become much more confident and are much more successful at keeping kids excited about playing. The NAofA will also take over the entire management of a League for schools and municipalities that are in need.

Kids Sports Programs Should be FUN

NAofA kids sports programs are designed to provide children with a safe, fun, and educational youth sports experience. We offer a wide variety of options such as youth basketball, youth soccer, youth baseball, and so much more! Our programs range from our one-day clinics to week-long camps.

In a short time, we have grown from 3 locations to over 100. We continuously receive requests from cities to bring our programs their way and we are doing our best to meet the demand. It is our mission to bring our quality kids sports programs across the nation.

Camp Opened

2012- Aaron Locks kicks off his sports camps in 3 cities in Sonoma County and runs 44 programs.

Expansion

2015- Aaron grows to 37 cities in 3 counties, offering over 250 programs and teaching over 4000 children.

Team Grows

2017- The team grows! Aaron brings on a new Partner, Laree Mancour, responsible for polishing the brand and developing a growth strategy. A new website is designed, and an Intranet is developed for online training of new Area Captains, Camp Directors, and our NAofA Certified Coaches Program. NAofA doubles the cities, programs, and participants and expands its program offering to schools.

Covid Pandemic

2020- We thrive during the COVID pandemic! The NAofA team quickly creates PLAY HARD. HAVE FUN. AT HOME. On-Demand Sports Clinics for kids so they can stay active. Schools use our On-Demand and Virtual Sports Programs to give kids physical education during On-Line Learning. Leagues participate in our ZOOM Coaches Retreats to prepare for getting kids back to play safely. We add 28 new Community Partners!

Growth Continues!

2021- The NAofA uses the guidelines created by the CDC and local health organizations to create Covid Safety Protocols to resume live youth sports programs. Our protocols are distributed to California Parks and Recreation. Over 5000 kids participate in Spring sports camps with ZERO incidents. Summer of 2021 we contracted to run a record number of Youth Sports Programs.

Spreading Across the Country

2022- The hard work pays off! The NAofA grows tremendously and now has programs in California, Texas, Nevada, Massachusetts, and Georgia. We plan to continue this growth during the upcoming year!

THE NAofA is NOW A FRANCHISE

2023- The growth strategy is tested in different markets. Camps are selling out everywhere. We now teach Physical Education in over 60 schools. Mike Stone takes on the role of Director of Operations and Sales Manager. The NAofA signs legal documents to officially become a franchise!

KIDS SPORTS NEAR ME

Our Community Partners

The National Academy of Athletics partners with City Municipalities, Youth Leagues and Schools to provide organizations with professional trained Youth Coaches to ensure our Youth are provided with proper Physical Education Instruction.