We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Rebecca Whitehead a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Rebecca, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
My parents raised five girls within eight years of age, with me being the youngest. My father traveled for work some and my mom worked in education. My parents prioritized education and modeled this passion for us by each completing several degrees. Life was chaotic much of the time given the size of our family, although I grew up believing that I could accomplish anything. One of my favorite stories of trying something new was in high school. I had several formals to attend as my friendships spanned several schools. I went to my mother and shared my dream of wanting to design the dresses I would wear. Although I had no experience or training in dress design, she humored me and said she would work with me. She was an accomplished seamstress and offered to make the dresses. I was so excited! I started looking through magazines for ideas and sitting still to dream. I took out a pencil and started drawing. She helped me finalize the designs, then we shopped for the fabric. It gave me such confidence to follow my dream and accomplish something I wanted, yet didn’t know how to do. She was by my side, supporting my dream and helping make it a reality. The dresses turned out well and I got a lot of compliments. This experience not only built a positive experience in following my dreams, but also created a strong confidence level that has enabled me to try new things in my career, such as starting Kidokinetics Nashville.
Rebecca, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
With an M.B.A. degree from the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Rebecca Whitehead, Kidokinetics Nashville owner, has always demonstrated an interest in businesses with lasting, positive impact. This passion, coupled with her healthcare career and life-long love of sports and fitness, made Kidokinetics the perfect opportunity to add value to her community. As a mom of two, she has experienced, first-hand, the need for expanded youth fitness education and access to non-competitive athletics for all children.
Nationally, Kidokinetics has worked toward this mission for 25 years, introducing physical education to boys and girls ages 1-12. While most youth sports programs focus on single sport mastery, Kidokinetics does things differently, transforming sports and motor development into active play and just-right challenges. The result? Soaring confidence and long-lasting skills that reach far beyond a child’s immediate physical development.
Kidokinetics Nashville was launched in August 2022 and serves children in over twenty schools, through school enrichment, physical education classes, and summer camps. Kidokinetics Nashville is honored to have a 5-star rating on Google and is grateful to have the opportunity to make a lasting difference to all children. To this end, Rebecca donates weekly classes to a local non-profit. In addition to school and camp programs, parents have the option of booking Kidokinetics coaches for birthday parties and similar youth events.
Kidokinetics allows kids to grow their fine and gross motor skills through popular sports like football, basketball, soccer, tennis and golf, while introducing them to lesser known ones like jai alai and field hockey. But, the learning isn’t limited to just sports skills. Each session concludes with a quick overview of specific muscles and bones, helping kids to understand the impact an active life can have on their growing bodies.
Any area organizations looking to blend Kidokinetics programs into their current offerings or host a special event may reach out to [email protected] for more information or visit kidokinetics.com/nashville.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
Kidokinetics has a stellar reputation in our community because of the care and thought involved in every business decision. An unwavering commitment to our brand and customers, understanding our market, and valuing relationships have all helped us grow beyond our expectations. With the benefit of investing in a strong brand with a proven track record, I could put my focus on learning and growing. I spent a week at the franchise headquarters getting immersed in the brand, programming, operations, and client success. Later, I visited the first franchise in Dallas and shadowed our founder there, gleaning insights on successes and lessons learned.
Knowing that my market is a very relational city, I made a point to get to know the directors at the schools and connected with the community on our value proposition of building a love of non-competitive movement. I even taught some of the classes myself to experience the product first hand and understand what my coaches go through. From a marketing perspective, I have social media and tried email campaigns, but ultimately found that showing up and word of mouth was what made the difference. While we strive for excellence, we don’t always get things right. In order to stay connected and consistently improve, I ask the directors and parents for feedback and implement changes accordingly. I also hand write thank you notes to directors and drop off small gifts to let them know how much I appreciate the partnership. I now get calls from directors asking for us to work with new schools. When I ask how they hear about us, I am told that other directors recommended us.
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
I have managed teams much of my career so I have been able to apply lessons learned to the Kidokinetics team, including hiring, training and ongoing engagement. I have learned that hiring the right people whose values are aligned with your brand and mission and have aligned incentives is the key to success. In the beginning, I hired coaches and my director from Indeed, which was somewhat successful, although dependability was an issue. I then built a partnership with a local university who has an internship program. Now I hire through this partnership. These coaches are experienced in our field and have aligned incentives so they are dependable. We have a comprehensive training program that includes online training, in person training with all of the equipment, and then shadowing classes. Our coaching manual includes keys to successful coaching, lesson plans, expectations and ideas for engaging kids in classes. From an ongoing perspective, we connect with the coaches weekly and check in on how things are going, what they need, and any feedback they have. If they are having challenges at a school, we step in and support them, working with the directors and parents if needed. We also meet for lunch or coffee sometimes to connect, which also helps maintain high morale. My advice is to connect and engage, and listen and support your team so they feel valued and heard.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kidokinetics.com/nashville
- Instagram: @kidokineticsnashville
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/kidokineticsnashville
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/company/kidokinetics-nashville
Image Credits
Victoria Genova Photography