New Program Promoting Kids' Physical, Emotional Fitness Coming To Prince William County

WOODBRIDGE, VA – Woodbridge will soon have another destination for families who want to help build their kids’ physical strength, social confidence and emotional resilience when a new KidStrong franchise opens this summer.

The operators of the new location tell Patch.com they hope to open in mid-August. Owners Nat Montha and Thanh Truong spoke with Patch on Thursday about what they hope to bring to the community.

What is KidStrong?

"KidStrong is a science-based kids training program, and the goal for the program is to focus on building strong, confident and high-character kids," Montha explained. "That is done through a once-a-week, 45-minute class that really focuses on developing different physical abilities for children from the age of walking to 11 and also working on building their confidence through public speaking, teamwork," and other social exercises.

The idea is to help kids develop emotional strength along with physical fitness. They're helped in this by coaches who treat them with dignity, kneeling down to their level, shaking their hands and working to build personal confidence in kids through modeling the same. Montha says he hopes kids will take that confidence forward into interacting with their peers. “I thought that was something that I wanted to bring to the community,” he said.

Even parents who already do physical activities with their kids find the emotional development of the program appealing, "because I think that's something that a lot of times lacking," in sports programs, Montha said.

Involving parents and community partners

Montha and Truong say they hope parents will be active participants in their programs, and plan to have bleachers for parents to watch their kids take part in their programming. “We feel like that's so important – us building relationships with parents and seeing their kids develop throughout the years and staying with us for the duration. That's our hope: building really strong relationships with the community, with parents, and seeing different kids move on and grow up and become KidStrong coaches when they move into college and high school age,” Montha said.

The whole-child approach includes building partnerships, Truong says. They’re connecting with kids' art clubs, nature clubs and other programs, “to make sure we’re providing opportunities for the kids fully, just not physically, but just artistically.” So far, parents have said they're excited to have a comprehensive place for kids’ activities close at hand, she said.

The business owners have been active on social media and in the community, promoting the new franchise and explaining the concept to the Woodbridge community.

The response so far has been very positive, they say, and their presale has already drawn 400 membership applications.

As part of the pre-sale, they’re offering discount registration rates and credits for additional classes. More information can be found here.

Neighbors and business owners

The couple has three daughters, ages eight, five and three, and it was searching for sports programs for their own kids that alerted them to KidStrong. The family lives in nearby Lorton.

In addition to serving kids and families, Truong says they’re invested in supporting the community as business owners. “We are currently hiring coaches from within our community who are passionate about working with kids and making a positive impact,” she noted. Application information can be found here.

Check out the new location at 2501 Neabsco Common Place, #109, in Woodbridge.

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