5 Olympic Sports Kids Can Play In NYC

With the Summer Olympics just around the corner, what better way for sports-loving kids to spend the summer than learning how to play some less common Olympic sports! There are plenty of venues in NYC that offer sports like water polo, fencing, and more–we’ve rounded up five great ones with options for kids!

Shot Put / Track and Field
Become America’s next Track and Field star and learn the basics of the sport with CityParks! For boys and girls ages 5-16, this program is running in parks in all five boroughs this summer. Activities include hurdles, long jump, discus, shot put, javelin, and track. Need more incentive to join in on the fun? Participants will have a unique opportunity upon the conclusion of the program to display the skills they have learned over the summer at an organized track meet held at Icahn Stadium, Randall’s Island’s own world-class sports complex. Check out the CityParks website for locations, times, and additional information. cityparksfoundation.org

Rugby
This international pastime, one of the many versions of football played in England since the 19th Century, has a large presence for kids in New York City thanks in part to the initiative Play Rugby USA. Take part in Play Rugby’s Sports Leadership Academies and Rugby Academy, where everyone can play–from beginners learning the basics to elite players honing their skills. Everyone can develop as young individuals through fitness, academic, and leadership training. Learn more on Play Rugby’s website, find your team, and hit the field this summer! playrugbyusa.com

Archery
Does your child aspire to having skills like The Hunger Games’ Katniss Everdeen or Hawkeye from “The Avengers?” Hidden Gems Archery will teach them all about the sport of archery. Ranging from individual lessons to schools, camps, and group events, Hidden Gems will teach students various ways of bow shooting, including Olympic-style shooting! For more details regarding lessons, services, and the team of expert instructors,take aim at their website. hiddengemsarchery.com

Fencing
Train to be this country’s next premier fencer at Manhattan Fencing! They have qualified more fencers for US National teams and the Olympics than any other club in the country in the last four years! In other words, with a remarkable facility, world class coaches, and dynamic programs, Manhattan Fencing is ideal for kids of all ages and skill levels trying to learn the basics or aiming to become a future Olympian! manhattanfencing.com

Water Polo
What better place to play a new sport during this summer’s scorching months than the pool? Asphalt Green offers instructional water polo classes in its Olympic-sized pool for ages 7-18. Kids gain basic water polo skills along with hand eye coordination, teamwork skills, and much more! asphaltgreen.org

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Super Soccer Stars

Soccer Stars is New York&rsquo;s most popular youth educational soccer program! With 24 years of experience under our cleats, we have positively impacted over one million kids in our local community by putting the FUN in FUNdamentals in our weekly classes and camps. At Soccer Stars, we use the soccer ball as a vehicle to help children not only improve their soccer skills, but develop self-confidence and physical literacy, improve gross motor skills, build teamwork, and hone socialization skills. Our highly trained coaches and early childhood experts lead an age-specific curriculum with a low kid-to-coach ratio so every child gets individual attention and can grow at their own pace. Kids ages 1-12+ can join our seasonal programs, including Parent &amp; Me, FUNdamentals, Development Training, and Travel Soccer. Join us at one of over 80 locations in neighborhoods across across Westchester County, Connecticut and New York, available 7 days-a-week: Connecticut: <ul> <li>Cos Cob</li> <li>Greenwich</li> <li>Port Chester</li> </ul> &nbsp; Westchester: <ul> <li>Briarcliff</li> <li>Eastchester</li> <li>Mt. Kisco</li> <li>New Rochelle</li> <li>Ridgefield</li> <li>Scarsdale</li> <li>White Plains</li> </ul> &nbsp; New York City: <ul> <li>Bronx</li> <li>Inwood</li> <li>Upper West Side</li> <li>Upper East Side</li> </ul> &nbsp; Can&rsquo;t find a class or location that fits your schedule? Soccer Stars also offers private classes for small groups or individual training. Let our coaches come to you with a completely customizable program, anytime, anywhere. Birthday parties are also available!&nbsp;

Once Upon A Mattress

Bring your kids. Bring your parents. Bring your favorite pajamas! Once Upon a Mattress is back on Broadway, and it&rsquo;s &ldquo;pure let&rsquo;s-be-kids entertainment&rdquo; (New Yorker) fit for ages 7 to 107! Two-time Tony&reg; winner Sutton Foster stars as Princess Winnifred the Woebegone, alongside royalty of stage and screen Michael Urie and Queen of Comedy Ana Gasteyer. Adapted for a new generation by Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), this uproarious retelling of The Princess and the Pea introduces the unapologetically eccentric Winnifred to an uptight kingdom, where she charms, delights, and dances her way to the top&hellip; of a stack of mattresses. So give the babysitter the night off and your kids a night on the town &ndash; you'll all live happily ever laughter! Get tickets at&nbsp;<a href="https://onceuponamattressnyc.com/">https://onceuponamattressnyc.com/</a>

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;