OK, both my U5 and U7 coaching threads have turned into a discussion of the need for teaching general movement activities to U-Littles during soccer practices. USSF clearly believes that general movement activities are critical and should be used throughout the U6-U9 curriculum, with a strong emphasis on them at U6 (below which they don't even advise starting) and a decreasing use up through U9. To be clear, I'm using the term "general movement activities" ("GMAs" for short), as I beleive the term is intended, to mean things that are not "soccer specific movements" ("SSMs" for short). SSMs are a subset of GMAs, just like basketball movements are a subset of GMAs. GMAs may not involve a ball at all. Some involve a ball but do not involve soccer-related movements with the ball (e.g., throwing the ball up in the air and catching it with hands). GMAs would be things like standing on one foot, hopping, balancing, skipping, jumping, playing tag without a ball, etc. Once you start doing things like putting your foot on top of the ball, you are not longer doing a GMA. That's an SSM. Also, if 5 kids have a ball and the sixth kid is trying to dispossess them, all 6 kids are involved in an SSM. On the other hand, bending down and putting your elbow or forehead on the ball while it rests on the ground is a GMA. Basically, anything you would actually do in soccer and not anywhere else is an SSM. Anything you would do outside of soccer is a GMA. (I realize that many GMAs -- like standing on one foot and hopping -- actually take place during soccer, but they also take place in all other sports, hence there being "general" rather than "specific".) Let's try not to get bogged down in semantics, but I'm happy to discuss disagreements with my definitions. When I observe academy style training in my area for U4-U5, I see licensed coaches devoting 50%-75% of their sessions to GMAs. In other words, for 50-75% of their training session, they are doing things that are not specific to soccer at all. Often times the balls are all off the field and the kids are standing on the field without a ball. The coach will say "I can stand on one foot, can you?" Another example would be the kids playing tag without a ball. U6 is probably 40% GMAs from what I have seen. The theory behind using GMAs is that they help build general athleticism and are thought to be a pre-requisite to SSMs. I agree with that theory, but do not believe they are prerequisities in the sense that you can't do SSMs without GMAs. Because soccer practices are limited to 1-2 activities per week at U4-U5 for a total of 2 hours or less, I believe that soccer practices should consist mostly, if not entirely, of SSMs, even at the U4-U5 level. First of all, kids get GMAs in other places, like the other sports they are playing, school PE, school recess and general play on the playground and elsewhere. Further, SSMs are inclusive of GMAs. By this I mean that putting your foot on top of the ball, for example, involves the GMA of standing on one foot and balancing, so you can accmplish the GMA within the SSM. For me, 100% of my training time would be (and is) spent engaged in SSMs with a soccer ball, even at U4-U5. If I think the kids need to learn how to balance, I will have them stand with one foot on the ball and roll it around with the sole of their foot. If I think they need to hop, I'll have them hop with the ball between their feet. In general, I try to come up with activities that involve close control dribbling. These activities include GMAs within them but are done within the context of SSMs. Dribbling requires balance, but it also builds and improves balance. I know that most here likely differ from me in that they believe that GMAs should be coached during soccer practices. So, here are the questions for this thread. First, do you think GMAs have a place in soccer practices? If so, what percentage of your time over the course of a season would you devote to GMAs at each age level from U4-U6? (I'm looking for averages here. If your first session would be 100% GMA and 0% SSM, and then moving more toward SSMs over the course of the season, feel free to specify that, but also please provide your average break-down between GMAs and SSMs over the course of the season.) This topic has gotten a little ugly in other threads, and I'm as much to blame as anyone for that, so let's try to keep it civil here. We're all here for the purpose of getting better as coaches and all can learn from each other, even if we think we are more experienced or have a better coaching education than others. (Final Note- Please don't get bogged down in the notion that SSMs are a subset of GMAs. I know this. What I am looking for is the extent you use GMAs independent of SSMs.)
Skipping, jumping hoping are low impact plyos that a young player should work on. Girls can play games like hopscotch. Both girls and boys can skip rope they all help the player develope the fast twich muscles which can help with their quickness in a small space and first step speed. Playing tag with a purpose. Is a good way to use quick changes of directions and different speeds to help set up a defender in real games. In real games your playing tag with the ball.
Do it at home, and during the off season and before the season starts. Also do figure eight runs in a small space then shrink the space. Do tag with a purpose in practice then when they get good at it do it with a ball. Then in couage it when you break the team up to play at the end of practice
Thanks, that's helpful. I'll put you in the low percentage camp in terms of using GMAs in training, certainly way under 50% based on what you're saying. I read what you're saying to mean that GMAs should be done largely outside of formal training and, within training, should be used as a clear building block. For example, you might do a game of tag without the ball before intorducing the ball in order to ensure that everyone understands the game before introducing the ball. (Correct me if I've got that wrong.) I agree with this approach. As an example, I've had the kids quickly do 1v1s without the ball, having them fake their body one way to get the "defender" to lean the wrong way, and then introduced the ball to the drill quickly thereafter and encouraged them to do the same thing with the ball as they did without the ball. I would describe this as using the GMA as an immediate building block to a SSM. (Hadn't really thought of it that way before, but I see it now.) Thanks again, Nick!
If you have a long off season or your not playing in tournaments. You can work on this stuff during that time. It's boring incidently. We work on trying to get first step speed with my old adult team. But it is the players muscle type that matters at that age. But doing it with young kids earlier the better can effect their muscle type. Diff entry worth doing but not during regular practice except tag with a purpose.
You're really going out of your way on this one, aren't you? Not really sure what you're hoping to accomplish.
No agenda, really. I'm just interested in hearing from other passionate coaches on what percentage of time they devote to GMAs in their formal training of U4-U6. I don't expect or even hope to convince anyone to change their practices, nor do I really expect to change mine. But I think I can learn something on the topic, as I already have from Nick's insight into using general movement activites as building blocks for soccer specific movements, which makes a lot of sense to me so long as it's pretty targeted and immediate. No one has to participate in this informal poll, so feel free not to if you see it as useless.
I've been running private classes for 3-5 yo for the past 8 years, 6-8 classes per week. Each class has 5-6 activities in about an hour span. A usual class has zero or just one GMA activity. Occasionally there will be two, but I also use the first general part as a lead-in to doing it with a ball like nicklaino says. One class out of roughly 12 I will do an obstacle course, and about two-thirds of that class will be GMA with no soccer ball. The percentages are left as the exercise for the reader.
I haven't read the other threads regarding this topic, but I agree with you that it's a waste of time to do these activities during soccer practice. Kids get more out of 10 minutes of playing free tag around the playground after practice than I can give in this category, so practice time is much better spent playing soccer. IMHO there are two top priorities when it comes to coaching this age group: 1) Fun - playing must be fun and positive. Recognize that the kids are there to play and get quickly bored by complicated drills. 2) Ball control and dribbling are the essential skills to learn at this age. BTW, I do spend about 10 minutes or so after practice is done playing tag with the kids around the playground equipment. It's great fun!
I'd say I did 0%. When I had kids put elbows for foreheads on the ball, it was part of a dribbling game, so I think that's outside of your definition of GMA.
I think you guys are missing the more common sense application of movement education. It should never be separate and always included in soccer-specific activities. No matter who you coach, you need to do movement education with your players in some way. If you coach boys in a small town and the best 15 athletes play soccer for you, they might not need simple movement education but there are more advanced activities.If you coach recreational players in a city where anyone may sign their kids up for soccer, you may do a lot more general things. I've had to do it both ways. For some, you are already doing movement education unintentionally. (TEACHING TECHNIQUE IS PART OF MOVEMENT EDUCATION!) Those of you with relatively athletic players should be looking past the simplest movement education and trying to get into more dynamic and challenging activities. I mean, c'mon, if they can balance on one leg and not trip over their own shoes, sure you don't have to do the simplest things. But... * What about balance with a leg high in the air that can lead to volleying? * What about tumbling at speed that can lead to tackle evasion and reduced risk of injury due to falls? * What about a freeze-tag activity that forces them to hold a plank, push-up, or bird dog pose to build core strength? * What about teaching the correct footwork to spin away from a marker in BOTH directions? If anyone has U6 players that can do all of the above, ... you're lying.
Yesterday we did an informal survey at practice and our best players coincidentally play multiple sports. Basketball and dance being chief among them (for girls).
I agree with dcole and others who advocate 0% pure GMA. For U6 we played a lot of fun games with the kids moving the ball with their feet as much as possible. My U6 kids loved practice more than the games, but they learned how to dribble. GMA is a waste of time. My time with them is so limited 2 hours a week for 2 months of the year, I want to get them as much touches as possible. The assumption is that the kids are running around and playing other activities outside of soccer practice, which seems like a pretty safe assumption to me.
To be efficient coaching must include assessment and reassessment, not assumptions. Here is my view on the need for speed and agility training: https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/motor-skill-development-overlooked.1330470/
It does seem like spring rec soccer for 6-7 year olds doesn't give you a lot of time to do non-soccer related activities, although sprinting and changing direction as well as running all seem worthwhile to do at some point.
I'm a lawyer and for 90% of my life I'm not practicing law. But they still don't teach you how to eat, sleep or watch TV in law school.
I'd say Monkey Boy and dragonscoach pretty much nailed it for me. Of course, there are opposing views, so each will see it differently.
Etiquette? No. Ethical rules? Yes. Lawyers must know their ethical obligations just as soccer players must know the LOTG.
I think a better comparison would be did they teach you how to takenotes, read, write, verbally communicate, organize, or any of the other many very basic mundane skills that you actually spend the majority of your time doing as a lawyer (90%? I dont Know). I am guessing that those were all learned long ago and then you got your legal training (SSM) later on. Anyway, I do spend some time on GMA but it is based on assessments of the players and as mentioned above it is progressive. I do it even with my high school kids when I see the need. I can't tell you how often a kid come to me and can't jump or land properly, pivot with either foot, some can't even perform a simple skip. It is important to have these movements down properly and it is worth the investment of time to teach them to make our players better later on. And I do mean teach. We can tell a 6 year old to stand on one foot and they may do it but are they in a balanced position or are they windmilling there arms all over or sticking the other leg out to the side or way behind them. Some coaches will look at that and say "yep he can stand on one leg" and then move on and thats the mistake. Proper technique must be taught. The activities need to be broken down into there simplest parts and drilled into the players untill they are natural. This will make the SSMs come quicker and more naturally and will help reduce the risk of injuries as the players get older. Just my opinion but there is no good reason not to train GMA at the youngest ages. At that point they have plenty of time to develp ball skills and it's not like you won't be training those as well. The techniques they learn will make them better in the end which is the goal of us coaches. We shouldn't fast track the process if it isn't necassary.