Meet The Owners : Lisa and Ruth from Little All Sports

We love to invite independent local businesses to send us in a little write-up telling us all about themselves and how their business came to be.

Having met both Lisa and Ruth a number of times whilst Emilia and Lucas attended Little All Sports I can attest that they are two of the loveliest ladies you will ever meet and it’s never long before you are laughing along to their double act routine – I genuinely don’t think they know quite what a funny double act they are, they complement each other perfectly – our very own female Ant’n’Dec.

Anyway, having been badgering them to send something in for a good 10 months now I am absolutely delighted to present to you Lisa and Ruth of Little All Sports.

We’re Lisa and Ruth, 2 local mum’s who run Little All Sports a local multi-sports business for children aged 16 months to 7 years of age and we will be celebrating our 5th birthday this month (September).

We really can’t believe how well our little business has developed and grown in numbers over the last 5 years.

We are not sisters although we often get asked this by our children and parents of our classes nor do we live at the Scout hut!!

We have both worked in very different job-sectors prior to having our own children.

Our paths crossed when our eldest children started Grovelands primary school, we were both very proactive members of the PTA with an amazing team of parents helping us but soon we realised how organised and focused we were working together even with the occasional argument over balloons!!!

Our friendship grew and after 9 years of working in the Early Years for Lisa and Ruth working as a gymnastics instructor and with our eldest children about to leave their primary years and embark on Secondary school, it was a chat over a coffee one day discussing what we both wanted to do during the next stage of our lives that we soon discovered that we had a common interest.

It was here that the Little All Sports journey began as we both enjoy sport, have equally sporty children and our love and passion for encouraging children to get active is something that we both feel strongly about.

The first year was the most difficult for us.

Like any new business we had to overcome many challenges such as finding a hall, building a website, learning more about facebook, advertising, marketing, accounts, purchasing equipment and somehow run a family and earn a wage!!

Lisa pulled on her Early years NVQ qualifications and fitness instructor knowledge to start working out how our sessions would work as well as come up with a name for the business and Ruth excelled in her admin skills, locating a web designer and asking lots of IT questions to her hubby.

This all came together and we started trading in September 2014.

To begin with we only ran a few classes a week and worked on building up the numbers of children attending … we did this by door to door leaflets, standing in Walton on market days and generally giving leaflets to anyone who would take them!

Our classes are now busy and we pride ourselves on getting to know both the children and parents alike. We absolutely love it that our parents recommend us to others … they are the best people to be telling others.

New parents who bring their children for a free trial often say “Oh my child won’t do that” or “They are really shy and clingy”.

Our words to them are that it is perfectly normal for a first class but, more often than not, we always find a way of engaging the child at the first or second session which surprises them and we often get comments such as “they have never joined in at any other class” or “they haven’t done that at other classes!!”

Once the child has completed a first term with us they really do gain, not only in self-development and ability, but also in confidence which really makes our day … it’s just amazing to see.

We are so grateful to parents who mention to others about our classes and are also grateful that we are able to use local websites such as Walton-on-Thames.life … this has really helped our small business grow.

This September we are aiming to run 12 classes a week as well as our nursery and afterschool clubs which is no mean feat for two local mums!

We have seen so many lovely children, siblings and parents come through our doors and we have so much pleasure in seeing them enjoying sport.

The end of our Summer term gets very emotional when we have to say goodbye to our 4 year olds as they embark onto their exciting journey to pre-school or primary school and the tissues definitely come out!!

Being a local business has it’s perks as, more often than not, we get spotted in Walton.

The question we get asked quite often though is …… “Where’s Ruth?” or “Where’s Lisa?”

You can find out more about Little All Sports via their Website, Facebook page or send Lisa and Ruth an email:

https://www.facebook.com/littleallsports/

http://littleallsports.co.uk/

info@littleallsports.co.uk

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