About us
Built by people who run programs.
Every Focused Play Co system started as a real Rec Academy program, run with real kids, season after season.
Running great youth programs is exhausting when directors are scrambling for weekly activity plans, rewriting rules on Sunday nights and training seasonal staff from scratch. We’ve been there — that’s why we built Focused Play Co.
Meet the founder
Robert Thornton
Founder & Owner, Focused Play Co
Program and curriculum authority — every system comes from the 1,100+ programs the Rec Academy has run, tested with real kids and written so facilitators can run them without guessing.
Before founding The Recreation Academy, Robert spent more than a decade on the front lines of youth development — supervising high-challenge courses, guiding wilderness and canoe trips, and leading archery and cabin groups at residential camps from Camp Takajo in Maine to Camp Ondessonk in Illinois, then directing summer camp at the Missouri Athletic Club.
He then served Little Medical School as its St. Louis Franchise Director and as a Corporate Franchise Support Specialist for its national network of 34 locations. That is where he saw what operators struggle with most: seasonal staff turnover, last-minute lesson plans and uneven safety standards.
In 2021 he launched The Recreation Academy to fix that, authoring 100+ hours of STEM.org-accredited curriculum and growing to 74+ partner locations across St. Louis, Kansas City, Nashville and Medford. Focused Play Co packages those same field-tested systems so your locations can run them without rebuilding everything every season.
Robert’s other companies
An ecosystem of youth recreation, business infrastructure and staff accreditation supporting your programs.
Years in the field
Where the experience comes from
Meet the operations supervisor
David Saunders
Operations Supervisor, Focused Play Co
Operations and scale authority — 20+ years of corporate operations behind site launches, roster enrollment and the consistency that keeps locations running season after season.
An Associate’s degree in Business Management from Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) and 20+ years in corporate America give him a strong business foundation.
At The Recreation Academy, he is a driving force behind continued growth, leading staff development, opening new program sites, supporting marketing initiatives, and driving enrollment across all locations.
He has helped numerous sites hit the ground running and exceed expectations in their first two years. Outside of work, he’s a proud husband and father of two who enjoys hiking and unplugging with his family.
David’s other roles
An ecosystem of youth recreation, business infrastructure and staff accreditation supporting your programs.
Our mission
Help every school and recreation provider run youth programs kids love — and that grow the skills that last.
Our philosophy
Keep it safe. Keep it fun. Make it impactful.
Play with purpose
Every game ends with a short guided reflection, so fun turns into communication, teamwork and resilience.
Structure that frees facilitators
Ready-to-run plans mean staff spend their energy on kids, not prep.
Safe, fun, impactful
In that order, every session, at every location.
Built to grow programs
Curriculum designed to fill rosters, bring families back and add revenue.
The Rec Academy track record
1,100+
Programs run and counting
85%
Of families re-enroll season over season
24
School & community partnerships launched
4 / 5
Staff return for multiple years
The Recreation Academy behind our curriculum
Accredited. Recognized. Built for play.
Focused Play Co licenses curriculum developed at The Recreation Academy — a STEM.org Accredited Educational Experience and Best in STEM honoree.
View the Rec Academy’s credentials ↗
Let’s bring the play.
Make this your best season of play yet.
Tell us about your sites, your season, and the programs you want to run.