July 10, 2025 • 22 mins
Meet Andrew Waghchoure, the passionate owner and head coach behind Little Kickers ACT, who's bringing structured football skills development to Canberra's youngest residents. After 14 years in the classroom, this primary school teacher is channeling his love for education and football into a growing business that's capturing the attention of families across the region.
Little Kickers isn't your typical sports program—it begins with children as young as 18 months old. Through age-appropriate sessions spanning four distinct developmental stages, children progress from basic motor skills and color recognition to structured match play by age eight. What makes the program truly special is its blend of imaginative play with physical development. Balls transform into rocket ships and pirate ships, while activities cleverly incorporate fundamental learning concepts. As Andrew explains, "It's not like they're playing soccer... they're doing games that they might have played in preschools or daycare, and we're just putting a ball element into it."
For parents interested in developing their child's coordination, social skills, and physical abilities in a structured yet imaginative environment, Little Kickers offers a unique opportunity to introduce sport at a foundational age. Follow Little Kickers ACT on social media to learn more about their weekend sessions and upcoming expansion locations.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford, your hostfrom the Canberra Business
Chamber, and today I'm joined byAndrew Wogchare, who is the
owner and head coach of LittleKickers ACT.
Andrew, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you so much, greg.
Great to be here Now.
It's great to have you on.
Thank you.
Little Kickers is a newborn inthe Canberra business community,
(00:32):
so tell us what is it that youdo?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So basically I'm a franchisee of Little Kickers ACT
, so we have Little Kickers allover Australia.
It came from the UK back in theearly 2000s and, yeah, I
thought I'd bring it intoCanberra and see how the
Canberra community enjoy theprogram.
So basically what we do is I'lltrain the coaches up, set the
(00:56):
program, which is targeted to 18months old and I know people
listening would be verysurprised that an 18 month old
can play.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
But they can't, sorry what are we talking about here?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
we're talking about football, football yes, so not
soccer football, the proper, theproper one from the UK.
So yeah, it's football skillsdrills for 18 months old all the
way through to eight years old.
We have four different agegroup classes, based on
research-based activities andresearch-proven activities, and
(01:31):
we have a 45-minute session andthey run through the series of
activities with a few drinksbreaks and a few games to break
up the whole session.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So is this serious?
I mean, do you have sort of biggames between 18-month-olds
where they're trying to scoregoals and all the rest of it, or
is it more about the kind ofthe ball skills and social
skills that come with it?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's more structured.
So basically, for an18-month-old it's all about the
preschool fundamentaldevelopmental activities like
grabbing, picking, colour,coordination.
We look at things like kicking,looking at body movement, find
your feet, find your elbow, allthose kind of developmental
(02:17):
needs that they need at that age.
Then we progress on to thejuniors, which is about two and
a half to three and a half yearsold, and then they start to
develop some skills through someactive games.
So it's not like they'replaying soccer, it is they're
doing playing games that theymight have played in the
preschools or daycare and we'rejust putting a ball element into
it.
(02:37):
Then we move on to the nextgroup, which is the mighty
kickers, from three and a halfto five years old, and they
basically are the prequel to theMegas kicking, which is like
the match play there.
So they're letting the skillsand the mighties to build the
confidence, the self-esteem, getrid of any shyness, any, you
know any, me, me, me.
(02:58):
It's all about us as a group,as a team.
And, yeah, megas, we go intoplaying matches, structured
matches, and then when theygraduate at eight years of age,
they get to play in the bigleagues, the big clubs, and a
club can scout them Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So where are you currently located?
Where are your programs?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So, we're located at two venues, one's at Waniyasa.
We all have indoor venues,might I add, so no matter what
the weather's doing outside itmight be snowing, raining,
hailing we'll be indoorsoperating every weekend.
So the first venue we launchedout of March is in Waniyasa at
Trinity Christian School.
The second venue we opened upin May, it is in the Carribba
(03:48):
High School in Queanbeyan, justacross the border, and we plan
to open up a third venue,because I know that Northsiders
would hate me for not having theprogram in Northside.
So we're going to have a venuein Dixon coming up in September,
which is really good, and we'regoing to branch out to Goldman
as well in September as well.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Right.
So that's really quitewidespread and I know the
Northsiders listening to thiswill be really pleased to hear
that you're not pickingfavourites, even though you
started south of the lake.
Yes, why are you here in theACT, though?
What motivated you?
What's your background?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So, basically, I'm a primary school teacher with a
passionate love of football.
Um, I thought I used to coachas well, because we started um
liticus, canberra in 2018.
I used to coach them, um, andthen it stopped because of covid
and I'm trying to bring it backinto canberra because lots of
people still are familiar withthe name um and, yeah, I thought
I'd bring it back as a trialsee how things go, see what
feedback I've got and thefeedback that I've had greg is
immense.
Like we have registrationspouring in.
(04:52):
We have one new registrationevery week at least.
Um minimum, which is good.
Um, and the parents areenduring it because they get to
see, they get to be with thekids and it's really, really
helpful for them to see theaction, as the kids are engaging
in the activities.
Cool, and is it Saturday morningand stuff yes it's Saturday
morning and Sunday morning, sothey can choose which either one
(05:13):
to attend.
Yeah, from nine till one.
There's four different classesabout 45 minutes long, so that's
quite a commitment.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I mean, how big a team of people do you have doing
this?
You can't be doing it all byyourself.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
No, no, I wish I could fit myself in too, but
I've got a very, very good teamof coaches who I've recruited
through word of mouth and theyare running the show for me.
I come in and help out wheneverI can if they can't be there
for a session.
But yeah, I'm just making suremy job now is not to coach as
(05:45):
such, it's to like do theadmin-y sorts of things take
registrations, help out supportthe coaches if need be.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So as a primary school teacher, you obviously
care about the learning journeyof children.
How important do you think itis for kids to get into a sport
and how early should they begin?
I guess you'll tell me 18months, but I mean does it start
earlier than that even.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well, it starts when they're like in the womb.
They hear all these noises,kind of thing when they're in
their mother's tummies.
But basically as soon as youcan start.
Like, we had our son who is nowtwo years and two months old.
He started swimming when he wasthree months old.
So there's no age limitations onhow um soon parents get
involved in sport.
(06:30):
Um, with us there is alimitation of 18 months minimum
because of all the structuredactivities and the engagement
that we require of the kids, um,and some sort of independency
as well.
So they need to be able to walkas well, which is the first
thing.
So, if your kids walking at 12months, sure bring him, reach
out to me and have a chat withme and we can surely push your
(06:51):
kid into the program.
But, um, yeah, look, it's veryvital, it's important.
Like, as a parent, I can knowthat I can definitely wave a
flag and say, yes, it'simportant to have kids studying
sports to build up their finemotor skills, their gross motor
skills, their hand-eyecoordination.
Like I said, I'm a parent aswell and we've got our son into
(07:12):
lots of activities that arebuilding his self-esteem, his
engagement, his social skills aswell as his athletic ability,
but hopefully these early oninterventions that we're taking
will help him later on in lifeto be a well-rounded athlete or
a well-rounded human being.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
We'll keep our fingers crossed for you.
Thank you Now.
You mentioned a little bitearlier that one of the things
you do is mix kind of soccerskills, football skills, with
colour and number recognition.
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So basically we've got different games.
So we have games where we throwall the cones up.
They're all different coloursand the kids have to.
Children have to go and pick upa colour that the coaches call
out.
So if they say, pick up a redcone, the children have to sift
through all the colours, findthe red cone and put it back on
the tree.
We have very creativeimaginations and our coaches are
(08:04):
very creative.
Like you wouldn't see any adultbe as creative and imaginative
as our coaches.
So basically they'll do colourcoordination.
They'll put their bodies ondifferent parts of the ball.
For example, elbow on the ball,the knees on the ball, the feet
on the ball, the nose on theball.
The ball isn't itself a ball.
(08:26):
It could be a rocket ship, itcould be a cannonball, it could
be a pirate ship.
We have different adventures tobe had during the session.
So it's really fun.
We do the colour coordination.
We also do body recognition aswell, so the kids know what part
of the body they're using orthey're pointing to and also
having fun running around,playing different activities and
(08:46):
engaging in mindfulness andalso different games.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Have you thought about branching out into
corporate team building as anadjunct to the business, because
some of those things yououtlined could actually be quite
good at a corporate environment, I reckon.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, I'm happy to do anything for them.
If a corporate company or abusiness want to do some team
bonding, we can definitely getthem being just as engaged as
the kids are, and they can bringout the inner child as well.
So there's no limitations onthat Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Now, obviously you were a primary school teacher
before you sort of started thebusiness, um, but it is a bit
different sort of teachingversus owning and operating a
business.
What of the what of the thingsyou've learned along the way,
and what are the things you findmost challenging as a business
owner?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
so it's a big um transition year, as you say.
Uh, for me the most importantpart was to find different links
.
That was that I was familiarwith, for example, the children,
the clientele that I've got,the families.
So, basically, above, above itall, I just want to make sure
that the kids are happy and theparents happy.
The children are learning, thecoaches are learning um the
(09:54):
parents are watching the kidsbeing engaged at such an early
age in the academy.
Um, that's been my link and mykind of my safe to know that I
can, I know I can do this andmake it a successful business.
The other thing, with the adminthings in terms of um, financial
fees, um paying coaches, allthat I've it's been a learning
curve, a big learning curve whenhandling money.
(10:16):
I think I've gotten the hang ofit um through help of some
sponsors.
So I've recently sponsored,I've been sponsored by, I've
been approached by Quim inToyota, who are going to be our
sponsors later on in the um asthe year goes on.
So it'd be good um they'llprovide some support as well and
some advice as well, um, andthings like that.
It's really helpful.
But, um, yeah, looking at thecamera business, seeing how
(10:40):
things run has been a bit of achallenge, especially getting on
top of the systems and how totake invoices and send invoices
has been tricky, but it hasn'ttaken away from the fun and the
passion, which is why I wantedto start Little Hickers.
So I've still got the vision of.
You know, little Hickers isamazing.
It's a great product, a greatprogram and parent feedback is
(11:02):
just amazing with that.
So I think there's been somechallenges, but lots of good
points as well, why I'm here.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So we're recording this in June or July of 2025.
You've been going since March,so that's what?
Three or four months.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Three or four months.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
How are you going?
Are you happy with the progressand uptake?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yes, I am happy with the progress, but ideally I want
to be at a far higher level atthe moment.
At the moment we've got aboutroughly 75 kids enrolled, which
is a massive improvement from 22where I started in March.
So it's growing.
Like I said to you earlier,we're getting taking on board
new engagements.
Some parents regretfully haveto leave because they the
(11:48):
schedules in the weekend get abit hard and tricky, but none of
them have left for you know,saying that the program is bad,
everyone, everyone said we wishwe could continue, but we've got
other commitments to prioritizeand I'm like okay that's fine.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So it is a crowded marketplace though, looking for
kids' programs and sportingactivities.
And you're competing, I guess,with ballet and music lessons
and swimming and everything else.
How do you market yourself toparents?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So basically, I will go out and go to the childcare
centres, I'll do word of mouthand lots of parents are doing
the work for me.
They said this is such a greatprogram, andrew.
We want to tell our friends.
We've had a couple of parentswhose children go to daycare and
they attend the program on theweekend, and they said I'm going
to tell my mother's group, I'mgoing to tell daycare and their
(12:39):
tender program on the weekend.
And I said I'm gonna tell mymother's group, I'm gonna tell
daycare everything.
I'm like, please do.
Um.
But yeah, it's basically word ofmouth on social media as well.
So, on, lillikickers act on thesocial media page on instagram
and then lillikickers act onfacebook as well.
We're there.
We're promoting differentcontent, professional content
from the corporate side ofthings as well.
Um, I'll put on on a video aswell of upcoming so they can
(13:02):
know who I am and who thecoaches are.
We're really community-based.
One of our coaches plays in theNational Premier League and so
we're sponsoring her to play aswell, so she can get a name out
as well.
So it's really important to youknow, have the whole of
Litikaka's ACT involved in thecommunity.
There's a FATE coming up from.
I think it's their 40th year,so we'll be there as well.
(13:26):
Stalls up, demos out, it'sgoing to be a great event.
So lots of community eventsthat I can source out going,
drop off, childcare, drop offs,things like that, yep, handing
out flyers to schools and justword of mouth.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
That all sounds really resource intensive.
Is that a challenge for you.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
It can be, especially when you've got a young family,
like I do.
But I feel like the balanceI've got the balance involved in
it and there's coaches who arespreading the word out and
parents as well, so I feel likeI can manage my operations in
that segment quite well.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Fantastic.
So what's your customer journeylike?
Because obviously you're takinga product or service that
you're essentially promoting inperson or via word of mouth,
getting people registered andgetting them along.
Do you have a good onlinechannel for that?
That that sort of signupprocess?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
yes, so basically we have a website which is little
kickerscom.
Today you slash find a class.
So the parents hear about usthrough childcare, through
social media, and they jumponline and they can register
online.
It's quite easy to do that.
They follow.
When they register, they havean email account, they have a
(14:42):
password, the whole yard, andthen in three or four steps,
they can definitely sign up thechildren in the booker section
and they book in the time thatthey want to put the child into,
based on their age group.
So it's very, very easy because,like an 18-month-old parent, a
(15:03):
child cannot go into an olderclass.
It's very structured in how toplace it, so parents cannot get
lost in the timing of thescheduling or the choosing of
selection of classes.
And then you just move yourweight to the payment and then
I'll get a notification that theregistration has been complete.
I will reach out to them.
So basically via email, I'llsay look, here's a welcome
(15:23):
booklet.
Thank you for registering withLittle Kickers ACT.
My name is Andrew.
I'll have a couple of requestsfor them, one of them which is
basically they send me a nameand number of what they want
their child's shirt to look like.
So they can have a name andnumber on the child's uniform,
which is really good, and thensend a welcome booklet and then
(15:44):
they're all ready to go for thefirst session on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Right, so you're actually providing football
shirts for the kids, so we do wemake it look professional?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
We're an academy, so we have shorts and shirts
provided for them.
Hopefully, when they've takenmore sponsors or more businesses
tend to join up and partner upwith us.
We're looking at beanies forwinter, hoodies and trackies as
well, so we'll have the wholekit ready to go, so it'll look
like a proper academy in thenear future Sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We'll look forward to seeing that on a Saturday
morning sometime soon.
So what's your long-term vision?
Obviously you're talking aboutcoming north side, going out to
Carabao, going to Goulburn.
Is that as far as it goes, orhave you got bigger aspirations?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
No bigger aspirations , If only the clouds.
You know, the sky's the limitat the moment for me.
Basically, my head office andthe manager has given me the ACT
region so you can go down toJervis Bay, you can go down to
up to Goulburn, we can gowherever the wind takes us,
really where the program takesus.
So the Goulburn started with afamily who comes to a caribou
(16:54):
venue in Queanbeyan and theysaid we travel from Goulburn to
Canberra every weekend.
Is there a potential for you togo to Goulburn?
Check with the manager.
He says yep, go for it, noone's going to compete with you,
it's all yours to take.
So yeah, there's no limitationsas to where we go.
But I'd love to establish mynorth-south venues in Canberra
(17:17):
and the ACT and hopefully havelike between 1,000, 2,000 kids
in each program so we can go inthe week as well, which would be
really good.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I mean that becomes quite a sizeable operation
Definitely and becomes much morechallenging from a management
point of view.
How will you need to scale upyour administration side of the
business if you get to be thatbig?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So basically, I'd have to hire up more employees
who would be in charge of thesocial media promotions, like
the taking photos, all that kindof thing.
I'd have to hire up moreemployees who would be in charge
of the social media promotions,like the taking photos, all
that kind of thing.
Our coaches now, who arestarting to do the online
training so they can be leadcoaches and run the venues.
They will be training up newcoaches as well, new staff as
well.
There'll be someone who will betaking on registrations,
(18:03):
looking at online stuff, makingthe online website feasible.
There'll be people looking atthe invoicing stuff.
So it'll be quite a big projectand I'll just be sitting on the
beach saying thank you.
I'll be happily just seeing thecogs in motion and doing the
bare minimum if need be.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, we hope it works out for you.
Thank you.
What you know as a franchisearrangement, I guess it's not
quite the same as starting yourown business.
What systems and processes havebeen provided to you by the
franchisor?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
So basically, yeah, my franchisor his name is Dan,
he's a great man he has given me, provided me with online
trading.
He provided me with theequipment needed to start both
franchises, so two sets ofequipment.
He provided me with thenitty-gritty around the system,
(18:57):
how things work, what kind ofpayments will be needed to make
as a business part of your ownout-of-pocket kind of thing.
He explained to me how, um theinvoicing works to me, explained
to me how the um, how to youknow um bring um the local area
marketing, um, how to do thateffectively, um, and he just
(19:18):
pretty much gave me the get-go,like the confidence I needed to
just set up the business, set upthe basics of the systems that
I don't have to check in toomany times, the system just runs
itself.
Like I said, parents can easilyregister their child in three,
four steps and yeah, and takepayment and there's monthly
invoicing.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So all that kind of thing has been really helpful.
And are you having discussionswith your other franchisees
around the country?
Are they kind of little kickersgets together and conversations
about how it's all going?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, we are able to do that.
But with the business of allthat, we tend not to just keep
into our own little bubble.
But there are opportunities forus to branch out and reach out.
Like I've reached out with aperson in Sydney and his name is
Brad.
He's a great guy, he'sencouraged me, he's welcomed me
to the team as well.
(20:07):
So we've got a group chat aswell with some coaches who are,
you know, in Melbourne, inSydney, in Queensland, and they
just all come together and wejust chat and share tips and all
that kind of thing.
So we do have thatcommunication.
How well you use it is up toyou and how much you need from
it, it's up to you.
(20:27):
So yeah, it's been reallyhelpful as well to just see how
things are going, and we've alsogot each other's social media
pages, so we'll just like put alike in every social media and
just get some ideas from them,which is really good.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Cool, is this your first franchise arrangement?
Correct, you've been involvedin it.
Yeah, first franchise, firstfranchise arrangement that
you've been involved in Correctyeah, first franchise.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So I've been a primary school teacher for 14
years in a classroom.
You know teaching year afteryear, different challenges,
different, new, excitingactivities.
But I thought I'll take leavewithout pay, as of last year.
So 2024 was my last year,started the business in March
2025 this year and thenhopefully I I've got leave with
(21:04):
that pay for two more years.
So hopefully I can reallyestablish this and maybe return
to teaching, maybe in adifferent capacity, as a casual
teacher, because you know manyteachers every day in Canberra,
like my phone just bings everyhour saying can you work here,
can you work there.
So I won't leave teaching,which is probably a good thing
(21:25):
for all the Canberrans listeningout that I've got a quality
teacher here.
But yeah, it would be reallygood to just keep hold of both
things and see the business andput my hand in the business as
well, as much as I can, and thenalso be part of the whole
teaching and education processin Canberra.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Fantastic Andrew Wogchare, the owner and head
coach of Little Kickers ACT.
Thank you so much for joiningme here on the.
Canberra Business Podcast.
It's been great having you onand hearing a little bit more
about what you're doing, and Ihope it really works out for you
, thank you.
Thank you so much to ouraudience for joining us today.
Don't forget to follow us onyour favourite podcast platform
(22:07):
for future episodes of theCanberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford from theCanberra Business Chamber and
I'll catch you next time.
Hello and welcome to the Canberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford, your hostfrom the Canberra Business
Chamber, and today I'm joined byAndrew Wogchare, who is the
owner and head coach of LittleKickers ACT.
Andrew, welcome to the podcast.
Thank you so much, greg.
Great to be here Now.
It's great to have you on.
Thank you.
Little Kickers is a newborn inthe Canberra business community,
(00:32):
so tell us what is it that youdo?
Speaker 2 (00:34):
So basically I'm a franchisee of Little Kickers ACT
, so we have Little Kickers allover Australia.
It came from the UK back in theearly 2000s and, yeah, I
thought I'd bring it intoCanberra and see how the
Canberra community enjoy theprogram.
So basically what we do is I'lltrain the coaches up, set the
(00:56):
program, which is targeted to 18months old and I know people
listening would be verysurprised that an 18 month old
can play.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
But they can't, sorry what are we talking about here?
Speaker 2 (01:08):
we're talking about football, football yes, so not
soccer football, the proper, theproper one from the UK.
So yeah, it's football skillsdrills for 18 months old all the
way through to eight years old.
We have four different agegroup classes, based on
research-based activities andresearch-proven activities, and
(01:31):
we have a 45-minute session andthey run through the series of
activities with a few drinksbreaks and a few games to break
up the whole session.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
So is this serious?
I mean, do you have sort of biggames between 18-month-olds
where they're trying to scoregoals and all the rest of it, or
is it more about the kind ofthe ball skills and social
skills that come with it?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
It's more structured.
So basically, for an18-month-old it's all about the
preschool fundamentaldevelopmental activities like
grabbing, picking, colour,coordination.
We look at things like kicking,looking at body movement, find
your feet, find your elbow, allthose kind of developmental
(02:17):
needs that they need at that age.
Then we progress on to thejuniors, which is about two and
a half to three and a half yearsold, and then they start to
develop some skills through someactive games.
So it's not like they'replaying soccer, it is they're
doing playing games that theymight have played in the
preschools or daycare and we'rejust putting a ball element into
it.
(02:37):
Then we move on to the nextgroup, which is the mighty
kickers, from three and a halfto five years old, and they
basically are the prequel to theMegas kicking, which is like
the match play there.
So they're letting the skillsand the mighties to build the
confidence, the self-esteem, getrid of any shyness, any, you
know any, me, me, me.
(02:58):
It's all about us as a group,as a team.
And, yeah, megas, we go intoplaying matches, structured
matches, and then when theygraduate at eight years of age,
they get to play in the bigleagues, the big clubs, and a
club can scout them Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
So where are you currently located?
Where are your programs?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
So, we're located at two venues, one's at Waniyasa.
We all have indoor venues,might I add, so no matter what
the weather's doing outside itmight be snowing, raining,
hailing we'll be indoorsoperating every weekend.
So the first venue we launchedout of March is in Waniyasa at
Trinity Christian School.
The second venue we opened upin May, it is in the Carribba
(03:48):
High School in Queanbeyan, justacross the border, and we plan
to open up a third venue,because I know that Northsiders
would hate me for not having theprogram in Northside.
So we're going to have a venuein Dixon coming up in September,
which is really good, and we'regoing to branch out to Goldman
as well in September as well.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Right.
So that's really quitewidespread and I know the
Northsiders listening to thiswill be really pleased to hear
that you're not pickingfavourites, even though you
started south of the lake.
Yes, why are you here in theACT, though?
What motivated you?
What's your background?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
So, basically, I'm a primary school teacher with a
passionate love of football.
Um, I thought I used to coachas well, because we started um
liticus, canberra in 2018.
I used to coach them, um, andthen it stopped because of covid
and I'm trying to bring it backinto canberra because lots of
people still are familiar withthe name um and, yeah, I thought
I'd bring it back as a trialsee how things go, see what
feedback I've got and thefeedback that I've had greg is
immense.
Like we have registrationspouring in.
(04:52):
We have one new registrationevery week at least.
Um minimum, which is good.
Um, and the parents areenduring it because they get to
see, they get to be with thekids and it's really, really
helpful for them to see theaction, as the kids are engaging
in the activities.
Cool, and is it Saturday morningand stuff yes it's Saturday
morning and Sunday morning, sothey can choose which either one
(05:13):
to attend.
Yeah, from nine till one.
There's four different classesabout 45 minutes long, so that's
quite a commitment.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
I mean, how big a team of people do you have doing
this?
You can't be doing it all byyourself.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
No, no, I wish I could fit myself in too, but
I've got a very, very good teamof coaches who I've recruited
through word of mouth and theyare running the show for me.
I come in and help out wheneverI can if they can't be there
for a session.
But yeah, I'm just making suremy job now is not to coach as
(05:45):
such, it's to like do theadmin-y sorts of things take
registrations, help out supportthe coaches if need be.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
So as a primary school teacher, you obviously
care about the learning journeyof children.
How important do you think itis for kids to get into a sport
and how early should they begin?
I guess you'll tell me 18months, but I mean does it start
earlier than that even.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well, it starts when they're like in the womb.
They hear all these noises,kind of thing when they're in
their mother's tummies.
But basically as soon as youcan start.
Like, we had our son who is nowtwo years and two months old.
He started swimming when he wasthree months old.
So there's no age limitations onhow um soon parents get
involved in sport.
(06:30):
Um, with us there is alimitation of 18 months minimum
because of all the structuredactivities and the engagement
that we require of the kids, um,and some sort of independency
as well.
So they need to be able to walkas well, which is the first
thing.
So, if your kids walking at 12months, sure bring him, reach
out to me and have a chat withme and we can surely push your
(06:51):
kid into the program.
But, um, yeah, look, it's veryvital, it's important.
Like, as a parent, I can knowthat I can definitely wave a
flag and say, yes, it'simportant to have kids studying
sports to build up their finemotor skills, their gross motor
skills, their hand-eyecoordination.
Like I said, I'm a parent aswell and we've got our son into
(07:12):
lots of activities that arebuilding his self-esteem, his
engagement, his social skills aswell as his athletic ability,
but hopefully these early oninterventions that we're taking
will help him later on in lifeto be a well-rounded athlete or
a well-rounded human being.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
We'll keep our fingers crossed for you.
Thank you Now.
You mentioned a little bitearlier that one of the things
you do is mix kind of soccerskills, football skills, with
colour and number recognition.
How does that work?
Speaker 2 (07:44):
So basically we've got different games.
So we have games where we throwall the cones up.
They're all different coloursand the kids have to.
Children have to go and pick upa colour that the coaches call
out.
So if they say, pick up a redcone, the children have to sift
through all the colours, findthe red cone and put it back on
the tree.
We have very creativeimaginations and our coaches are
(08:04):
very creative.
Like you wouldn't see any adultbe as creative and imaginative
as our coaches.
So basically they'll do colourcoordination.
They'll put their bodies ondifferent parts of the ball.
For example, elbow on the ball,the knees on the ball, the feet
on the ball, the nose on theball.
The ball isn't itself a ball.
(08:26):
It could be a rocket ship, itcould be a cannonball, it could
be a pirate ship.
We have different adventures tobe had during the session.
So it's really fun.
We do the colour coordination.
We also do body recognition aswell, so the kids know what part
of the body they're using orthey're pointing to and also
having fun running around,playing different activities and
(08:46):
engaging in mindfulness andalso different games.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Have you thought about branching out into
corporate team building as anadjunct to the business, because
some of those things yououtlined could actually be quite
good at a corporate environment, I reckon.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Well, I'm happy to do anything for them.
If a corporate company or abusiness want to do some team
bonding, we can definitely getthem being just as engaged as
the kids are, and they can bringout the inner child as well.
So there's no limitations onthat Fantastic.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Now, obviously you were a primary school teacher
before you sort of started thebusiness, um, but it is a bit
different sort of teachingversus owning and operating a
business.
What of the what of the thingsyou've learned along the way,
and what are the things you findmost challenging as a business
owner?
Speaker 2 (09:31):
so it's a big um transition year, as you say.
Uh, for me the most importantpart was to find different links
.
That was that I was familiarwith, for example, the children,
the clientele that I've got,the families.
So, basically, above, above itall, I just want to make sure
that the kids are happy and theparents happy.
The children are learning, thecoaches are learning um the
(09:54):
parents are watching the kidsbeing engaged at such an early
age in the academy.
Um, that's been my link and mykind of my safe to know that I
can, I know I can do this andmake it a successful business.
The other thing, with the adminthings in terms of um, financial
fees, um paying coaches, allthat I've it's been a learning
curve, a big learning curve whenhandling money.
(10:16):
I think I've gotten the hang ofit um through help of some
sponsors.
So I've recently sponsored,I've been sponsored by, I've
been approached by Quim inToyota, who are going to be our
sponsors later on in the um asthe year goes on.
So it'd be good um they'llprovide some support as well and
some advice as well, um, andthings like that.
It's really helpful.
But, um, yeah, looking at thecamera business, seeing how
(10:40):
things run has been a bit of achallenge, especially getting on
top of the systems and how totake invoices and send invoices
has been tricky, but it hasn'ttaken away from the fun and the
passion, which is why I wantedto start Little Hickers.
So I've still got the vision of.
You know, little Hickers isamazing.
It's a great product, a greatprogram and parent feedback is
(11:02):
just amazing with that.
So I think there's been somechallenges, but lots of good
points as well, why I'm here.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
So we're recording this in June or July of 2025.
You've been going since March,so that's what?
Three or four months.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Three or four months.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
How are you going?
Are you happy with the progressand uptake?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yes, I am happy with the progress, but ideally I want
to be at a far higher level atthe moment.
At the moment we've got aboutroughly 75 kids enrolled, which
is a massive improvement from 22where I started in March.
So it's growing.
Like I said to you earlier,we're getting taking on board
new engagements.
Some parents regretfully haveto leave because they the
(11:48):
schedules in the weekend get abit hard and tricky, but none of
them have left for you know,saying that the program is bad,
everyone, everyone said we wishwe could continue, but we've got
other commitments to prioritizeand I'm like okay that's fine.
Speaker 1 (12:05):
So it is a crowded marketplace though, looking for
kids' programs and sportingactivities.
And you're competing, I guess,with ballet and music lessons
and swimming and everything else.
How do you market yourself toparents?
Speaker 2 (12:18):
So basically, I will go out and go to the childcare
centres, I'll do word of mouthand lots of parents are doing
the work for me.
They said this is such a greatprogram, andrew.
We want to tell our friends.
We've had a couple of parentswhose children go to daycare and
they attend the program on theweekend, and they said I'm going
to tell my mother's group, I'mgoing to tell daycare and their
(12:39):
tender program on the weekend.
And I said I'm gonna tell mymother's group, I'm gonna tell
daycare everything.
I'm like, please do.
Um.
But yeah, it's basically word ofmouth on social media as well.
So, on, lillikickers act on thesocial media page on instagram
and then lillikickers act onfacebook as well.
We're there.
We're promoting differentcontent, professional content
from the corporate side ofthings as well.
Um, I'll put on on a video aswell of upcoming so they can
(13:02):
know who I am and who thecoaches are.
We're really community-based.
One of our coaches plays in theNational Premier League and so
we're sponsoring her to play aswell, so she can get a name out
as well.
So it's really important to youknow, have the whole of
Litikaka's ACT involved in thecommunity.
There's a FATE coming up from.
I think it's their 40th year,so we'll be there as well.
(13:26):
Stalls up, demos out, it'sgoing to be a great event.
So lots of community eventsthat I can source out going,
drop off, childcare, drop offs,things like that, yep, handing
out flyers to schools and justword of mouth.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
That all sounds really resource intensive.
Is that a challenge for you.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
It can be, especially when you've got a young family,
like I do.
But I feel like the balanceI've got the balance involved in
it and there's coaches who arespreading the word out and
parents as well, so I feel likeI can manage my operations in
that segment quite well.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
Fantastic.
So what's your customer journeylike?
Because obviously you're takinga product or service that
you're essentially promoting inperson or via word of mouth,
getting people registered andgetting them along.
Do you have a good onlinechannel for that?
That that sort of signupprocess?
Speaker 2 (14:21):
yes, so basically we have a website which is little
kickerscom.
Today you slash find a class.
So the parents hear about usthrough childcare, through
social media, and they jumponline and they can register
online.
It's quite easy to do that.
They follow.
When they register, they havean email account, they have a
(14:42):
password, the whole yard, andthen in three or four steps,
they can definitely sign up thechildren in the booker section
and they book in the time thatthey want to put the child into,
based on their age group.
So it's very, very easy because,like an 18-month-old parent, a
(15:03):
child cannot go into an olderclass.
It's very structured in how toplace it, so parents cannot get
lost in the timing of thescheduling or the choosing of
selection of classes.
And then you just move yourweight to the payment and then
I'll get a notification that theregistration has been complete.
I will reach out to them.
So basically via email, I'llsay look, here's a welcome
(15:23):
booklet.
Thank you for registering withLittle Kickers ACT.
My name is Andrew.
I'll have a couple of requestsfor them, one of them which is
basically they send me a nameand number of what they want
their child's shirt to look like.
So they can have a name andnumber on the child's uniform,
which is really good, and thensend a welcome booklet and then
(15:44):
they're all ready to go for thefirst session on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Right, so you're actually providing football
shirts for the kids, so we do wemake it look professional?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
We're an academy, so we have shorts and shirts
provided for them.
Hopefully, when they've takenmore sponsors or more businesses
tend to join up and partner upwith us.
We're looking at beanies forwinter, hoodies and trackies as
well, so we'll have the wholekit ready to go, so it'll look
like a proper academy in thenear future Sounds amazing.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
We'll look forward to seeing that on a Saturday
morning sometime soon.
So what's your long-term vision?
Obviously you're talking aboutcoming north side, going out to
Carabao, going to Goulburn.
Is that as far as it goes, orhave you got bigger aspirations?
Speaker 2 (16:31):
No bigger aspirations , If only the clouds.
You know, the sky's the limitat the moment for me.
Basically, my head office andthe manager has given me the ACT
region so you can go down toJervis Bay, you can go down to
up to Goulburn, we can gowherever the wind takes us,
really where the program takesus.
So the Goulburn started with afamily who comes to a caribou
(16:54):
venue in Queanbeyan and theysaid we travel from Goulburn to
Canberra every weekend.
Is there a potential for you togo to Goulburn?
Check with the manager.
He says yep, go for it, noone's going to compete with you,
it's all yours to take.
So yeah, there's no limitationsas to where we go.
But I'd love to establish mynorth-south venues in Canberra
(17:17):
and the ACT and hopefully havelike between 1,000, 2,000 kids
in each program so we can go inthe week as well, which would be
really good.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
I mean that becomes quite a sizeable operation
Definitely and becomes much morechallenging from a management
point of view.
How will you need to scale upyour administration side of the
business if you get to be thatbig?
Speaker 2 (17:39):
So basically, I'd have to hire up more employees
who would be in charge of thesocial media promotions, like
the taking photos, all that kindof thing.
I'd have to hire up moreemployees who would be in charge
of the social media promotions,like the taking photos, all
that kind of thing.
Our coaches now, who arestarting to do the online
training so they can be leadcoaches and run the venues.
They will be training up newcoaches as well, new staff as
well.
There'll be someone who will betaking on registrations,
(18:03):
looking at online stuff, makingthe online website feasible.
There'll be people looking atthe invoicing stuff.
So it'll be quite a big projectand I'll just be sitting on the
beach saying thank you.
I'll be happily just seeing thecogs in motion and doing the
bare minimum if need be.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Well, we hope it works out for you.
Thank you.
What you know as a franchisearrangement, I guess it's not
quite the same as starting yourown business.
What systems and processes havebeen provided to you by the
franchisor?
Speaker 2 (18:37):
So basically, yeah, my franchisor his name is Dan,
he's a great man he has given me, provided me with online
trading.
He provided me with theequipment needed to start both
franchises, so two sets ofequipment.
He provided me with thenitty-gritty around the system,
(18:57):
how things work, what kind ofpayments will be needed to make
as a business part of your ownout-of-pocket kind of thing.
He explained to me how, um theinvoicing works to me, explained
to me how the um, how to youknow um bring um the local area
marketing, um, how to do thateffectively, um, and he just
(19:18):
pretty much gave me the get-go,like the confidence I needed to
just set up the business, set upthe basics of the systems that
I don't have to check in toomany times, the system just runs
itself.
Like I said, parents can easilyregister their child in three,
four steps and yeah, and takepayment and there's monthly
invoicing.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So all that kind of thing has been really helpful.
And are you having discussionswith your other franchisees
around the country?
Are they kind of little kickersgets together and conversations
about how it's all going?
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Yeah, we are able to do that.
But with the business of allthat, we tend not to just keep
into our own little bubble.
But there are opportunities forus to branch out and reach out.
Like I've reached out with aperson in Sydney and his name is
Brad.
He's a great guy, he'sencouraged me, he's welcomed me
to the team as well.
(20:07):
So we've got a group chat aswell with some coaches who are,
you know, in Melbourne, inSydney, in Queensland, and they
just all come together and wejust chat and share tips and all
that kind of thing.
So we do have thatcommunication.
How well you use it is up toyou and how much you need from
it, it's up to you.
(20:27):
So yeah, it's been reallyhelpful as well to just see how
things are going, and we've alsogot each other's social media
pages, so we'll just like put alike in every social media and
just get some ideas from them,which is really good.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Cool, is this your first franchise arrangement?
Correct, you've been involvedin it.
Yeah, first franchise, firstfranchise arrangement that
you've been involved in Correctyeah, first franchise.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
So I've been a primary school teacher for 14
years in a classroom.
You know teaching year afteryear, different challenges,
different, new, excitingactivities.
But I thought I'll take leavewithout pay, as of last year.
So 2024 was my last year,started the business in March
2025 this year and thenhopefully I I've got leave with
(21:04):
that pay for two more years.
So hopefully I can reallyestablish this and maybe return
to teaching, maybe in adifferent capacity, as a casual
teacher, because you know manyteachers every day in Canberra,
like my phone just bings everyhour saying can you work here,
can you work there.
So I won't leave teaching,which is probably a good thing
(21:25):
for all the Canberrans listeningout that I've got a quality
teacher here.
But yeah, it would be reallygood to just keep hold of both
things and see the business andput my hand in the business as
well, as much as I can, and thenalso be part of the whole
teaching and education processin Canberra.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Fantastic Andrew Wogchare, the owner and head
coach of Little Kickers ACT.
Thank you so much for joiningme here on the.
Canberra Business Podcast.
It's been great having you onand hearing a little bit more
about what you're doing, and Ihope it really works out for you
, thank you.
Thank you so much to ouraudience for joining us today.
Don't forget to follow us onyour favourite podcast platform
(22:07):
for future episodes of theCanberra Business Podcast.
I'm Greg Harford from theCanberra Business Chamber and
I'll catch you next time.
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