Shatter the Expectation
At Next Level Sports (NLS®), we’ve never believed a game is just a game. A first catch, a shot that finally falls, a teammate who becomes a friend. Those are the moments where kids find out who they are. For nearly twenty years, that belief has shaped everything we do: using sports to build the confidence, character, and leadership that kids carry long after the season ends.
We’re a Lower Merion youth sports organization, grown right here in the neighborhood and serving Main Line families since 2006. Through year-round programs in tennis, flag football, basketball, and summer camp, we help kids ages 6 to 13 reach their personal best in school and in sport. Every skill level is welcome, from the first-timer who has never touched the field or a court to the competitive player ready to be pushed.
Because it was never really about a single sport. It’s about the lessons kids pick up while they play.
What We Stand For
Sports are our classroom. Winning matters, but how kids grow matters more.
Every NLS program is built to teach more than fundamentals. We coach the things that matter just as much as the game: how to lead, how to work with people who are different from them, how to handle a tough loss, and how to keep showing up when things get hard. Those are the building blocks that outlast any season, and they’re the reason parents trust us with their kids year after year.
We meet each kid where they are and push them toward where they could be. That’s what it means to shatter the expectation, the one the world places on them and the one they place on themselves.
Our Story
It started around a kitchen table.
In the fall of 2006, Kyle Helton had an idea: a flag football program that could give kids in the community something to believe in. He also knew he couldn’t do it alone. So he called on childhood friends, Arnold Haynes, Kevin Mobley, Jerome Reynolds, Chris Long, and a host of others, who pulled from the best of their own upbringings and poured it into something new. Next Level Flag Football.
That first season, 63 kids took a chance on us. They didn’t just play. They became raving fans, and so did their families.
From there it grew. Within two years we had adopted a basketball program from the Rosemont Villanova Basketball Association and added Track & Field, sport clinics, and a Youth Referee program that put leadership directly in kids’ hands. What began with 63 participants grew into an organization serving roughly a thousand young athletes every year, and Next Level Flag Football became Next Level Sports.
Where We Are Today
That idea at the kitchen table has now reached more than 13,500 kids, and we’re just getting started.
Today NLS runs year-round programs across Ardmore, Lower Merion, Philadelphia, and Atlantic City in tennis, flag football, basketball, and summer camp. Our coaching staff is USTA NJTL certified, and we’re proud affiliates of NFL Flag and NBA Youth, connecting our community to the biggest names in youth sports while keeping our coaching personal and our roots local.
We were the Main Line’s first flag football league, and families have voted us Best Youth Sports Program in Lower Merion Township multiple years running. We’re especially proud of the momentum behind NLS Girls Flag Football, where a new generation of athletes is building skills, making friends, and breaking new ground together.
And no kid gets left out over cost. Through NLS Grow, our scholarship arm, we keep our programs open to families who need a hand, because the neighborhood works best when everyone gets to play.
The programs have multiplied. The mission hasn’t changed.
Why Families Choose NLS
Ask an NLS parent and you’ll hear the same thing again and again: their kid didn’t just get better at a sport, they grew in ways that showed up off the field too.
A big part of that is continuity. The same coaches show up across summer camp, fall flag, and winter basketball, so your kid sees familiar faces season after season and you always know who they’re with. That kind of trust is rare in youth sports, and it’s the thing families tell us they value most.
“My son went Next Level for 7 years and he absolutely loved every season, every moment. He created friendships and learned the fundamentals of football from great coaching.”
– Guy Stewart, NLS Parent
“I cannot even tell you how much Next Level means to me. Please do not ever question whether or not Next Level makes a difference. Next Level is the difference.”
– John, NLS Parent, Wynnewood PA
That’s the promise we make to every family who signs up: your child will be coached, challenged, and cared for, and they’ll leave a better teammate, student, and person than when they arrived.
NLS Sponsorships
- Lascala Fire – Villanova
- Ardmore Pizza
- Carlino’s Market Ardmore
- Dig Inn (Ardmore)
- David and Brook Rounick
- KC Foundation
- USTA Foundation
- Mr. Andy and Renne Tappata
- The Trader Family
- Suby Ross – Robindalemedia.com
- Dr. Foote Orthodontics
- Housecall for Footcare by Audrey
- Anthony Stevenson
- Michael Hagg
- Gina Nagvajara
- Philadelphia Gymnastics Center
- Amanda Back
- The Kopp Family
Join Us
Whether your child is stepping onto the field for the very first time or chasing the top of their game, there’s a place for them at Next Level. Come find out why generations of Lower Merion families keep coming back, and help your kid shatter the expectation.
Questions? Email Coach Joni at joni@nlsports.org.