Bouncing off the walls by day and scheming to nudge back bedtime by night, children have boundless energy that can exhaust many parents. But there’s a perfect place just for these spirited kids at Super Soccer Stars, a sports program abuzz with love for sports and play.

With bright blue walls and an artificial turf frequently strewn with rainbow-colored cones, the Super Soccer Star field on the Upper West Side channels a bright and cheerful children’s playhouse. So it’s no surprise that founder Gustavo Szulansky, who designed the space with kids in mind, is all about nurturing and respecting the child in today’s competitive world of sports.

First and foremost, Szulansky stresses that soccer should be joyful. “We make it simple and we make it fun, then we deliver a very high level of individual attention,” he says of the carefully age-differentiated curriculum. “The idea is that you let children be children.”

This philosophy has remained steadfast since the inception of Super Soccer Stars in September 2000, when Szulansky realized that most of the kids on his son’s West Side Soccer League had never played the sport. Under the guidance and generosity of Irwin Shlachter at Rodeph Sholom School, Szulansky was able to test his own methods at twice weekly practices during Shlacter’s after-school program. Eleven years later, Szulansky’s program boasts over 200 locations in the tri-state area, with one coach for every three to seven children, based on age groups.

That the Super Soccer Stars flagship on the Upper West Side is a place just for kids is not an exaggeration. Szulansky says of his design, “This is as far as I know the only space in New York City that was built with a very specific purpose of serving as a venue for children’s soccer.” From the padded walls down to a set of bleachers where parents can observe classes behind floor-to-ceiling netting, the field design ensures that no one gets hurt amidst all the fun. “Rent-per-square-feet, it’s probably the most expensive soccer field in the U.S.,” he jokes.

Judging from a jolly class of four- and five-year-olds at this learning playground one autumn afternoon, it doesn’t seem like the kids can find any disagreement with Szulansky’s approach. Plodding across the turf in the way that children who are still getting used to running do, the budding players dribble eagerly alongside their coaches. Running right into the mob of kids, the instructors keep the enthusiasm high with constant encouragement and suggestions for each student.

In fact, it is this ability to see the world through the eyes of the kids that Szulansky believes makes his program so successful. “Paramount to our success is how the coaches relate to children. We get a constant flow of inquiries from former professionals or semi-pros, and while those people have soccer skills, they don’t always relate to children,” he says. “Of course, we have different programs—so we need people working at higher, more competitive levels for the older kids and people who are warmer and fuzzier with the two-year-olds.”

It’s clear that Szulansky makes good on his hiring word. Tapping into the young kids’ imaginations, the coaches in charge this afternoon have their young players assume the characters of their favorite princesses and super heroes. Unwittingly learning to control their physical movements, the preschoolers dribble after Jasmine and Batman, cheering all along.

Striking a balance between fun and skills development is key. “An [inexperienced] child won’t really enjoy playing, because the stress of being thrown into a game situation without the building blocks can really damage the experience,” Szulansky says.

That’s not to say that kids already impassioned about soccer need to look elsewhere for higher level training—there’s a place for them too in Super Soccer Stars’ Premier Program. While the younger groups are typically focused on motor-skill development through play, Premier is more about competitive skill-building. More experienced Premier players can also opt into the travel program, where 10 teams compete all over the city against others in the league.

As the program has expanded both in age levels and reach—seemingly exponentially— Szulansky and his team continue to keep a very close eye on the quality of their practices. “In the beginning, I would supervise every class,” Szulansky says. Now, with almost 30 new locations in Boston and 11 in L.A., his passionate team makes sure that someone from the office oversees every single class and knows every coach’s individual teaching style. In addition to a step-by-step manual with games developed for every age group, the coaches have access to a website with videos to help them with their instruction.

For parents looking to get their kids moving, Szulansky champions soccer as a highly accessible option. “If you compare soccer with baseball or basketball or American football, it’s an amazing sport because it’s very simple—you walk, therefore you kick,” he says.

In Szulansky’s opinion, soccer is also a very democratic sport. “If you’re short or tall or heavier or leaner or a boy or a girl, it’s totally irrelevant,” he says. And unlike other sports, like baseball where kids are mostly on the field watching or sitting on the bench, in soccer some children run faster than others, but everyone is out and about and moving.

Health benefits aside, soccer provides a great forum for social learning as well. “For many of the thousands of children that come here, this is the first time they’re with a group of kids,” Szulansky says. “Here’s a very simple and non-strict way they are acquiring skills that will be with them forever: sharing, taking their turn, following directions.”

Szulansky ultimately suggests letting nature take its course, at least in the beginning. “Bringing a child into the kitchen doesn’t make him a little chef,” he says. “You bring a child into the kitchen so he can bang on pots and pans and explore the forms and shapes and ingredients—soccer is the same.”

It’s sound advice. Considering he turned a single after-school soccer class into a widespread and growing sports-play institution—with hopes to expand internationally—it’s safe to say that Szulansky knows his stuff when it comes to kids.

For more information, visit supersoccerstars.com.

Photos by Daniel S. Burnstein

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Help Your Kid Gear Up For Soccer

Thinking about introducing your son or daughter to soccer? For little ones, leading active lifestyles is the best preparation. Szulansky maintains that kids don’t need to worry about actually learning the game at least until two-years-old, when they’re ready for more focused motor skill development. Until then, parents can simply encourage kids to learn how their bodies work, particularly the lower body. Gross motor movements toddlers can work on include:

-Independent walking

-Balancing

-Moving feet and legs in different directions

-Kicking a ball (no need to aim!)

If you’re buying a ball to kick around casually, look for something smaller, softer and squishier than what the big kids use. At Super Soccer Stars, the custom-manufactured balls are more padded and less inflated than regular soccer balls.