Matt K.

I began coaching the moment I stopped playing. Since my last year of college football was 2011, that would give me four years of coaching experience as a profession. The great company that I worked for during this time period is called We Got Game Chicago. We Got Game provides a myriad of services to a variety (age, skill-level, etc.) of kids throughout the Chicagoland area. One day you could find me teaching floor hockey to a group of three-year olds, and on another I might be coaching my flag football team comprised of teenagers.

Besides my work with this company, I have volunteered to coach several youth camps and teams, mostly football, basketball, and baseball, including some work at the high school level (football). I have also done speed, strength, agility, and overall athletic personal training for kids ages 12 & up. I am Virtus certified and have completed CPR certification.

Above all, my experience has given me the capability to be versatile. Have a 2nd grader starting baseball? An 8th grader? Whether you are looking for a coach to introduce your son/daughter to the simple joy of the game, or you require someone to provide advanced skill/athletic training, I am proficient and excited to hear from you!

Like many of you, I come from a sports family. It might be easier to note the sports that I did not participate in growing up. Strictly in terms of organized sports, leaving out the countless hours of "Sandlot" style neighborhood games we all played as a kid, I played soccer, baseball, basketball, football, and wrestled until high school. At the end of high school I narrowed my focus to football only and was named twice to the Illinois All-State team-on top of being All-Conference (3x), All-Area (2x). My senior year of high school, I signed a Letter of Intent thereby committing to Eastern Illinois University to play my collegiate football.

While it is quite obvious that my expertise is in football, it should be mentioned that I competed at the highest of levels in the other sports before ultimately sticking to football. In fact I would say that I have taught more total hours of soccer, basketball and baseball over the past few years than football.

This is a difficult question to answer since every athlete is unique in their skill set. With that being said, a conversation with the family should provide me with enough background as to what our sessions are to accomplish. This and along with an initial evaluation session would suffice to then engineer a plan to meet the desired goals. I believe strongly in teaching the value of setting goals, planning, and then executing the work it takes to accomplish goals.

Typically each session would last anywhere between 45 minutes to two hours depending on availability. Every session will begin with an assortment of warm-up and stretching exercises since these exercises are vital to improving speed, strength, agility, and many more, on top of being one of the greatest tool for injury prevention. After the warm-up has concluded, the athlete(s) and I will move forward into the specific skill or technique portion of the session. Depending on how much time we have, it is possible that there would be more than one skill/technique portion of the session. Following the skill/technique work would be the gameplay section. While I believe in drilling and the benefits of repetition ("10,000-Hour Rule"), the most successful way to transfer what skills you have been working on is through gameplay.

Every session will be designed exclusively for each individual athlete. Some athletes require more skill/technique-based work than those who might flourish through gameplay. Even the warm-up exercises we perform will be geared towards the athlete's strengths and weaknesses. As a coach it is my job to access and provide the framework for young athletes to grow, and enjoy doing it at the same time!