Two months with no sport has been tough for many, which is why Fun First Football owner Colm Kenny wanted to get kids back on the field as quickly as possible.

'During lockdown, I had many emails from parents saying how much their kids were missing football, and our fun inflatable soccer field,” says Colm.

'Once in Level 2, we had to wait a long time for an answer from Football NZ on how to proceed, so I decided to start one-on-one coaching sessions for kids aged 4-8.”

The sessions sold out in two hours and Colm's plan to do six sessions per week quickly grew to 15.

'The kids – and their parents – went crazy for it. I was blown away.”

Tara Cameron was the first parent to sign up her six-year-old son, Shane.

'I jumped at the chance, Shane lives for footy,” says Tara.

'We stayed active at home, but Shane definitely missed routine. I'm a sportswoman myself, but I didn't know much according to my six-year-old!”

Like Tara, and his boxing champion Dad Shane Cameron, Shane Jr is naturally sporty.

'I still think it'd be easy for him to forget how much he loves it and become unengaged, which I'm sure is the case for many kids. I jumped at the chance to get him back out there.”

The one-on-one sessions will end with Term 2 in a few weeks. But Colm has plenty of exciting things planned.

'We are all booked-in for indoor football for Term 3 and are about to order a second inflatable soccer field. Come Term 4, we'll be visiting even more schools throughout Tauranga.

'It's been a tough year for kids, so we're excited to get back into it.”

Another blow for kid's sport – the 2020 AIMS games has been cancelled.

The annual competition sees more than 11,000 intermediate-age students compete across 23 different sports.

'So much preparation goes into AIMs, and it brings a lot of business into Tauranga, so it's a real shame,” says Fun First Football owner Colm Kenny.

This year's event was due to be held in September.