Like most football dads, Kyle Lien enjoys watching his son learn the sport and enjoy success on the field.

And as with many young players, River Lien’s early struggles focused more on the mental side of the game.

A strong athlete for his age, River settled at running back in his Mukilteo, Wash., league. Put the ball in his hands, and no 6-year-old could catch him. The issue was getting him to where the quarterback was waiting. Remembering left from right in the heat of competition is hard enough. Memorizing the different holes was too much. Despite constant encouragement from the coaches, Kyle saw his son’s growing frustration and sought a way to help.

“He was struggling to remember where the play was going,” Kyle said. “Coaches would call ’23,’ and he would get confused, run to the wrong hole. The coaches tried to work with him, but that’s a hard concept to teach at that age. What could I do to make things easier?”

That’s how ideas are born.

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When children are learning the alphabet and make a mistake, Kyle said, is it better to build some flash cards or make them run a lap?

Kyle’s “flash cards” became arm bands with the holes mapped out.

“At first, I took some regular socks and a Sharpie and put numbers on them, and he got it instantly,” Kyle said.

As River got older and teams began incorporating wrist band to more easily call plays from the sideline, Kyle switched to gloves that included not only running holes but defensive gap assignments when players are on that side of the ball.

Kyle eventually made sleeves and gloves for most of the team, then other teams in the league. The kids improved, eventually getting to the point where they didn’t need to look down to know where the holes are because the repetitive lesson took hold.

And the coaches noticed.

“At first, I thought it was a waste of time,” said Mike Foster, a youth football coach in the Seattle area for 13 years and the Heads Up Football Player Safety Coach for Mukilteo Fighting Knights. “But then I thought during the time that I’ve coached, I’ve seen a lot of things happen – equipment changes, different helmets, new gloves. After a while, I figured that if it gets him to learn the holes, then fine.”

Foster encourages new players to use the sleeves or gloves in order to catch up to the more experienced athletes.

“Every year, about 30 percent of my players have never played before,” Foster said. “Kids new to the game don’t know the language, and that can leave them behind. Whatever makes it easier, safer and more positive, I’m for.”

It helps coaches, too, said Nick Prater, another youth coach from the Seattle area. By lowering the stress on players to remember where they are going, coaches can call a play and know that everybody understands.

“At our level, we can have a coach in the huddle,” Prater said. “After calling the play, I don’t have to reiterate to half of the team which hole we are running through. They look on their arms and know exactly where they are going.

“It saves on time, saves on stress and stops kids from hesitating, which leads to better play on the field.”

Recently, Kyle took his idea national with the launch of PeeWee Pro. He hopes to change the way young athletes learn football and how coaches educate players on this aspect of the sport.

“Players confident of where they are going run with purpose,” Kyle said. “If it takes away some of the confusion for kids, they will have more fun, less frustration and stay with it.”