About Us

     Kevin Kelley graduated from Glenwood HS with honors. He then attended Henderson State University earning a Bachelor of Science in Education. He helped manage a clothing store for four years as well as became a 50% owner of a Golf USA.

     Coach Kelley spent 4 years in the Dallas area at Carrollton Farmers Branch ISD coaching football and basketball and teaching science classes.

     He began coaching at Pulaski Academy in 1997 and became the head football coach in 2003 and remained until 2020. During those 18 years, Kevin led the team to 15 final four appearances, 12 state championship games and 9 state championships, including a state record 4 in a row from 2014-2017.

     In 2021, Kelley took a job as the head coach at Presbyterian College in South Carolina. After stepping down, he was offered a job with the New England Patriots but decided to stay with his family in Little Rock and help begin Kid Champion, to help develop kids' motor skills, minds, and confidence.

     During his time coaching, Coach Kelley has coached camps, teams, and groups for multiple sports from ages 5-25 years old. He loves what sports, coaches, and teammates have meant to his life, but most of all, the confidence, feeling of importance, and relationships from working together with people from his youth until the present.

     Coach Kelley has received much national attention for his creative approach to the game of football winning the Disruptive Innovation Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, Time Magazine’s 33rd Best Invention of the Year, spotlight of an ESPN 30 for 30 short, USA Today National Coach of the Year, appearing 3 times on HBO Real Sports, National Geographic’s Brain Games, Fox Business News, the Dan Patrick Show, the Jim Rome Show, speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston on multiple occasions, and much more.

     Kelley’s creative approach to football does not end there. He is excited to integrate an academic piece and motor skill development at an even younger age to give children of Kid Champion huge head starts in sports, school, and life.

     Kevin has been married to his wife Dana, for over 25 years and has a son, Zack, and a daughter Kara.

     Zack Kelley graduated from Pulaski Academy High School in Little Rock. He was a 3-time all-state football player and a 2-time state champion. He finished up 2nd all-time in Arkansas HS Football in receiving TDs with 62. He graduated with honors in 2016.

     He went on to play college football at Ouachita Baptist University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 2020.

     Zack coached basketball and football while also teaching personal fitness at Pulaski Academy after graduating from OBU. In football, he helped steer them to a state championship while coaching receivers. Zack got married to Allyson Edwards, whom he met at OBU, in July of 2021.

     He then went on to coach receivers at Presbyterian College, a D1 college in South Carolina.

     Zack realizes how important all sports have been in his life from soccer, baseball, basketball, football, and now lifetime sports such as pickleball and golf. It was a great way for him to learn how to interact with others in different situations, gain confidence, and taught him lessons that a child cannot learn from school.

     Now he is trying to pass on those same opportunities through Kid Champion but at an even earlier age. He wants to teach the same characteristics that have helped him be successful in sports, school, marriage, and life.

     Zack has said, "I wish I had a program like Kid Champion that would have allowed me to develop at an even earlier age to help bypass that awkward stage that everyone goes through when they first start playing team sports. It would have helped in everything from teammates, to how to listen to coaches, to having confidence simply when I enrolled in school the first day."

     Zack is one of the founders of Kid Champion and helped develop the curriculum.

     Claire Fortson graduated from Little Rock Christian Academy in 2018. She was a member of the varsity cheer team for three years. Claire attended the University of Central Arkansas and graduated in 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and a minor in Family and Consumer Sciences. 

     “I am excited about supporting the children who come to Kid Champion. I enjoy working with young children and look forward to helping them develop new skills.” 

 Amber is a retired teacher who spent over ten years teaching first and fifth grade at Pulaski Academy. She graduated from Baylor University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, after which she began teaching. She and her husband William lived and worked in Fort Smith, AR and Stuttgart, AR until returning to Little Rock in 2014. Amber has experience teaching group excercise and dance classes, and loves spending time encouraging children!

As a teacher and a mother of two adult children, she is passionate about the importance of building confidence through physical activity as children grow and change. She hopes to meet each child where they are and help them see their value and recognize their gifts while pushing them to achieve their goals!