Broomfield Community Spotlight Series #4: Game Only Sports (Brought to you by Natascha Lee Studios)Game Only Sports

by Natascha | Mar 3, 2014 | Broomfield Colorado Family Photography, Broomfield Community Spotlight, Broomfield Companies for Mothers, Colorado, Community Spotlight, Resources for Children, Uncategorized

newborn and children sessions outside with our Broomfield Spring sessions starting to book now! While we all have a little cabin fever this week, let’s take a look at Game Only Sports. It’s the perfect spot to be active regardless of weather -which can be a challenge in our beautiful Colorado with the weather changing so much daily! Read on for the fourth installment in our Community Spotlight series.  🙂 Game Only Sports, located in Broomfield, Colorado is truly a one-of-a-kind place for children, parents, groups and parties to have an exciting and positive experience playing soccer and volleyball without any pressure. Taking practice and pressure out of the equation you are able to come together to play pick-up games- where the focus is having fun! [caption id="attachment_3027" align="aligncenter" width="277"] Picture provided  Ryan Aweida, Owner of GO Sports[/caption]

Q: How did you decide to open Game Only Sports? –Any inspirations?

A:  I was providing traditional training sessions for kids from the time I was 13 years old.  In March of 2010, I finished my last game of the winter with a deep breath.  I pledged to never run another drill.  I was sick of seeing kids get better, but see the body language screaming to me that they were going to be “burnt out” at way too young of an age.  My mom asked me, if you don’t do traditional sessions, what would you do?  The answer was simple.  I would give the kids a chance to play!  I wanted to give the kids a chance to scrimmage.  That is what they wanted to do anyway.  What was wrong with letting the kids enjoy playing the game in a controlled environment?  We spent a couple months preparing to organize the logistics for the Perfect Pick Up Game.

Q: What is the most challenging thing about owning/running Game Only Sports?

A: The most challenging part about owning and running Game Only Sports is helping our customers understand why we do things in our unique manner.  We are different from the norm since we don’t allow any coaching.  It can be hard for parents to watch their kids make their own decisions.  It is common for parents to want to prevent their kids from failing, but we create an environment where the kids can play without the fear of failure.

Q: What is the mission of Game Only Sports?

A: Game Only Sports is creating a new way to play sports. We give players the chance to play for FUN!

Q: What makes Game Only Sports standout?

A:  Game Only Sports stands out because there are no other places in the country that does what we do.  There are pick up games, but when you combine our flexible scheduling with our positive environment, we are truly one of a kind.  We give our players a chance to play games when they want to without the big commitments and we put a staff member on the field to run the game from a player’s perspective.

 

Ryan commenting on his favorite moment at GO so far:

“I remember an Age 12-13 Game with some really good players. There was one young girl that had never played before. Every time the other players would pass her the ball, she would lose it. Anywhere else I had played soccer, this would lead to her never getting the opportunity again. But the other kids continued to feed her the ball. Not only did they keep passing to her, but when she finally kicked the ball in the right direction, two of her teammates told her “Good Job!” As you can imagine, she got really excited and her confidence was boosted. She ended up scoring goals having the hour of her life.”

What an inspirational story!

Q: Who can participate in Game Only Sports? Do you need to be a skilled player?

A: We believe it is important to have three characteristics to achieve our mission of FUN – Inclusiveness, empowerment and healthy competition.  To achieve inclusion, we want to give anyone the chance to play sports.  No skills or experience is necessary.  We have the ability to make this happen because we pick the teams.  Even though there will be players of different levels, we get to spread them out into relatively even teams.  We have all ages and levels from Age 6-7 to Adults.

Q: Who is your average participant? Do they compete in sports outside of GO?

A: Our average participant is a soccer player with some experience coming from outside training like a local soccer club. However, we are looking for more players who don’t have that experience. We are the perfect environment and format for kids that play other sports or even no organized sports!  We truly believe in our mission to give everyone a chance to have fun playing sports. GO also has an awesome mentoring program for kids 10 and over to take on and help a younger players by motivating them and supporting them in their playing!

Q: How does Game Only Sports positively affect the community?

A: Game Only Sports has a GO Give Back Program.  The goal of this program is to give back to the community in any way we can.  We have a program to give any player a chance to play, regardless of their ability to pay.  We also participate in a variety of community service projects, including adopt-an-area and helping a variety of non-profit organizations. Looking to learn more about Game Only Sports? Visit them online, Save your spot for a pick-up game, or Email Ryan at ryan@gameonlysports.com

Do you have or know any small businesses that would like to be featured here?  Email us at CommunitySpotlight @ NataschaLeeStudios.com

We offer newborn, children and family photography to families in Lafayette, Westminster, Highland, Denver, Golden, Louisville, Broomfield, and Boulder.