GROWTH THROUGH SPORTS


About Us

Little Training Ground was founded by two professional soccer players, Jay Klein and Tyler Gibson. Our passion for the game – and more importantly, for teaching it – drives everything we do. Soccer has given us so many meaningful life experiences: from personal growth and building lifelong friendships, to professional opportunities that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.

We created this company with one goal in mind:
to introduce the game of soccer to children at a young age so they can begin their own journey of development, confidence-building, teamwork, and fun.

A group of children kneeling on a soccer field listening to a coach. Several soccer balls are scattered around them. The coach is kneeling, wearing a dark sports jacket, while the children are dressed in sportswear and shirts of various colors.
A group of young children holding decorated soccer balls, posing with two adult coaches on an outdoor blue rubberized sports surface, with orange cones creating a boundary, in a fenced area with brown wooden fencing, overcast sky, and sparse leafless trees in the background.

Meet the Founders

A man in an Indianapolis Eleven soccer jersey holding a soccer ball, standing against a brick wall with colorful pink and blue lighting.


  • Founder

    -Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio

    -Instagram: @jay.klein3

    -Graduated from DePauw University in 2020 with a bachelors degree in Communications and Psychology

    -10+ years of coaching experience ranging from youth club/rec level and pre-k all the way to the collegiate level as the assistant Men’s coach at Wabash College

    -Started playing soccer at the age of 3 and currently plays at the professional level, most recently with Indy Eleven in the USL Championship

A male soccer player wearing a purple jersey and shorts on a soccer field during a game.


  • Founder

    -Hometown: Knoxville, Tennessee

    -Instagram: @tylergibson8

    -Graduated from UNC Charlotte with a degree in Marketing and competed in the 2011 Division 1 National College Soccer Championship

    -Has a passion for developing and giving back to the next generation of players and has demonstrated this throughout 15 years of coaching various ages and levels

    -Tyler is playing in his 12th season at the professional level and is currently the captain of the Oakland Roots in USL Championship. He previously played several seasons with Louisville City FC.

Bring our program to your center!

Little Training Ground is a program that will be tailored to your center’s budget, size, and space availability (indoor and outdoor)

Children participating in a soccer drill with a coach, who is demonstrating how to balance a soccer ball on their foot, in an indoor gym with cones and various soccer balls on the ground.
Contact Us

Most of our clients are able to generate their own PROFIT by working with us. We would love to show you how!

Services

  • Our coaches will arrive at your center on the day/time you choose on a weekly basis, set up their equipment, and take the children through our amazing curriculum!

  • Single or multi-day soccer camps have always been a huge hit, especially in the summertime!

    Here at Little Training Ground we specialize in creating custom made camps for your centers children or even the entire community to participate in.

    Contact us to pick a date and get started!

  • If you believe you or someone you know would be a good fit to be a coach for our program, please fill out the contact form on this site and we will be in touch!

    We are only looking for kind-hearted, organized, and energetic people (background check is required before hire).

Children participating in a soccer activity indoors, dribbling soccer balls around cones.
An indoor play area with children and adults engaging in soccer activities. Two adults are helping guide a girl with a soccer ball through a course marked by orange cones. Several children are standing and watching nearby, with smiles and excitement. The room has a beige brick wall, a bookshelf, and a digital clock on the wall.

 FAQs

  • We typically send two coaches to every class. This helps to establish a safe, engaging, and fun environment for the children to participate in. The number of coaches we send in can vary by class size though, and for smaller groups we occasionally will have only one coach present.

    All our coaches go through a strict training and background check process.

  • Our curriculum was designed by two professional soccer players and a licensed occupational therapist.

    It supports real development in key areas such as:

    -Gross and fine motor skills

    -Social-emotional development

    -Communication, teamwork, attention, and following directions all while having fun!

  • A single session is typically one hour. That hour is often broken up into two 30-minute blocks with a second group of children rotated in after the first.

  • Most of our clients are daycares and so our most common age range is 2-6 year olds.

    We also run after-school programs with elementary and middle schools.

  • We will come directly to your center during any day/hour you choose!

    Most of our centers have both indoor and outdoor space for our classes to be held in depending on the weather.

 Testimonial

“Our parents have fallen in love with the fact that their kid gets extra time out of the classroom to learn a sport that’s really growing here”

Drop Us A Message!

We will be in touch shortly.

Children standing in a line holding buckets containing soccer ball-shaped objects, in a classroom setting.
Children playing with a soccer ball indoors, with one girl in a gray sweatshirt and colorful shoes in the foreground, and other children in the background near a small goal net and a basketball.