Coaching U8 Rec League

[fidlerre]

I figured why not, I have spare time in the evenings after work...

I am coaching a local U8 Boys Recreational League team this spring.

Suggestions? Comments? All help is greatly appreciated!

[uniteo]

ball skills

ball skills

ball skills

Dribbling games, passing, and shooting. You will see very little, if any coherent team play (still quite a bit of bee-hive ball in 2nd grade). Hopefully they'll be playing small-sided games but if not that is a good activity to close practice with - always a good idea to have practice to progress to a game-like exercise at the end.

There are several good threads on this forum with specific activity suggestions if you want to browse some of the older pages.

And remember, people concentrate on positions because they don't know what else to teach. It should all be about ball skills now (for games, my nephew's club in the Netherlands only gives one player a position, the goalie - now your parents would have a stroke if you tried that but do not force
positioning on them).

ahh, here's one, http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=133046 this is for U-6 so you may want to look to introduce passing and simple combinations (give and go, 2 v. 1 attacking, but that's about it) but the basics still apply...you can never be too good at dribbling and trapping the ball.

[JoseP]

Liquor up before practice.

First, remember to keep them active in practice. That means no lines and your talks need to be brief. If they learn something that is great, but having fun is really the most important aspect.

A drill I liked is called "hunt the coach." Basically, every player has a ball and you run around like a mad man. They dribble after you and try to kick the ball at you.

Another I did was throw out 5 balls (with 10 players) and say whoever came back with a ball was a winner.

Really, just use your imagination and you'll come up with your own ideas.

[DUTCHVIZ]

IF you can find a wall at your practice site then slam is a good game to teach basic kicking skills with both feet. Go to http://www.bettersoccermorefun.com/soccerlike/slamgame.htm to see a diagram and a short video clip.

Good luck.

[Elroy]

The other posters were spot on about the need for ball skill work at this age. However, there is also a premium on avoiding boredom. Try to use games that incorporate a tactical objective - even if it's trying to hit the coach with the ball!:)

Winning is fun. At this age, winning the ball is a major factor in controlling the game. Teach the kids collecting on the run by having them intercept service that is at an angle. Try to get them to collect and turn with only one touch and at full speed - they can do it. Then have them go to goal and shoot at a ball atop a pro cone. Then you can go to 1v1 with variations of "steal the bacon". Move from there to 2v2 and even 3v3.

Introduce "keep away" at your first practice and continue playing it all season. Have the players stand in a large circle and place 1 or 2 players in the middle. No one stays in the middle for more than a minute. It is also a good idea to have coaches and parents to play with them. If you have a large roster, use multiple groups. Start with the circle and then allow the kids to understand that they can move anywhere.

You didn't describe your match conditions, but I hope they are small sided.

There are some old threads with good advice that you can look at.

Most of all, make certain that everyone has fun!

[Elroy]

Oh yeah. Don't run anything into the ground. Try to keep all games to ten minutes length.

[bungadiri]

Liquor up before practice.

First, remember to keep them active in practice. That means no lines and your talks need to be brief. If they learn something that is great, but having fun is really the most important aspect.

A drill I liked is called "hunt the coach." Basically, every player has a ball and you run around like a mad man. They dribble after you and try to kick the ball at you.

Another I did was throw out 5 balls (with 10 players) and say whoever came back with a ball was a winner.

Really, just use your imagination and you'll come up with your own ideas.
Never tried the "liquor up before practice" idea but come to think of it it might help. Especially at that age. When I started, I had to break up so many wrestling matches, water bottle fights, ignore nose picking, yadda yadda I thought I would have a stroke. Eventually you learn what to ignore, what to deal with quickly, and it gets easier.

Yep to everything else in the thread so far, especially the emphasis on using games that teach instead of drills. Other stuff:

Maximize praise, minimize yelling. Right after you've corrected someone keep an eye on them. Lots of times they'll try to do exactly what you've told them and that's the time say "nice job". If you miss it the first time around it might not show up again.

Parents WILL be involved and many of them will be newbies, interested in how little Johnny does above all else. That's widely regarded as a nuisance but hell it's only natural. Try to come up with some reasonable, cooperative parameters from the outset and get everyone to commit to them.

Also, it may not be your responsibility, technically, to instruct the parents as well as the kids, but it's in your interest to do a little of this. Little things like replacing the "BOOT IT" that's incessantly hollered from the 'rents on the sidelines with "take a look" "move for him guys" can go a long way toward making your life easier. Better yet, try to limit the coaching from parents and feed them things to praise: "nice pass" "nice run" etc.

[bungadiri]

One more thing about parents. I had an experience coach tell me that in a 90 minute game the most active field player usually doesn't have control of the ball for more than 2 minutes total. That's a good thing to convey to parents because it's not likely to dawn on them on their own.

It also connects to bunch ball thing. Kids that age gravitate the ball like nobody's business. The best game I know of to promote good off the ball movement is "touchdown". That's where there's no goal but instead you score by passing to a teammate in the "endzone." You can even have the endzone on all four sides of the playing field, if you like. You can have them play the game soccer style or with their hands.

[NHRef]

biggest thing I did and its now really showing payoff with the kids now U14, is FORCE them to use both feet. Yes they will be painfully slow doing it, but make em do it anyway.

make everything a race/competition, make sure they aren't standing in line.

[fidlerre]

Alright, got the details today.

9-v-9 on an 80x50 yard field, regulation sized goals.

Practices start in a week. First games in Mid-April.

Thanks for all your suggestions, more are certainly appreciated!

[JoseP]

Alright, got the details today.

9-v-9 on an 80x50 yard field, regulation sized goals.

Practices start in a week. First games in Mid-April.

Thanks for all your suggestions, more are certainly appreciated!

That's ridiciulous that they are playing 9v9 on such a big field. And with regulation sized goals. Unfortunately, you have to have one kid play in goal.

The only thing I'll tell you is put one fast kid in your defense. That way you can the kids up higher. I hate watching teams put their 3 defenders in the penalty box and wait for the team to dribble 50 yards untouched. Plus, they should be playing the game, not waiting for it to come to them.

[BTFOOM]

Alright, got the details today.

9-v-9 on an 80x50 yard field, regulation sized goals.

Practices start in a week. First games in Mid-April.

Thanks for all your suggestions, more are certainly appreciated!

OK. First, if there is any way to convince the other coaches to play 4v4, 40 X 50 field, no goalies (and small goals), by all means, do it.

Realizing that option has a snowballs chance in ----, try to make the best of it. My son's first season (at U-5) was similar to yours. Don't use your training/practice time to teach them about the large field for at least a couple of weeks. They need to learn good ball skills and control. The big kicks will come much later.

As for game days, I tried to break the overall game into 3 smaller games. The goalie and defenders had the job of getting the ball out of our end and to the midfielders. Every time they accomplished that, I gave the team a point. Next, midfielders/defenders need to get the ball through the middle third up to the forwards. Again, another point for all of them for doing that. Lastly, the forwards/midfielders got a point for creating a dangerous chance. Goals were just a bonus. In order to keep parents involved, I recruited three of them each game and they kept 'score'. I rotated every kid to every type of position, both sides of the field, and even goalie. At the end of the game, we tallied the points. Before the game, I told the players the number of points they needed to win. We played 4 ten-minute quarters. My goal was for them to get at least 20 points (this number increased as the season went on). If the team beat the number, slurpees it was (they never failed to win, usually going well over the number). I always made it a team event as I don't like to single out individuals for praise/criticism. The kids usually didn't know whether we won or lost, but by the end of the season, we were the only team who actually worked the ball up the field.

Good luck this season. I'll be interested to see how it works out. When the season's over, try to get involved with the decision process for the future. U-8 kids shouldn't play more than 4v4.

[Ray Luca]

[QUOTE=BTFOOM

"Realizing that option has a snowballs chance in ----, try to make the best of it."

Never work not when your dealing with people who don't really know the game. Also even when you do small sided play the way you mean that space that your playing in, even that smaller space is still to big a space to play in.

When I first started to coach in the 1970's. Travel league started at 6 yrs old. Everyone played on the same field the adult field. So 6 up played on the same field 11 on a side.

But the coaches were smart enough to know to practice small sided play most if the time 3 v 3 and 4 v 4. Because small sided play goes on near the ball at every level and age in a small space even on an adult field.

[imegu2x]

Let them dribble. Don't worry too much about passing or shooting at this age. I think getting comfortable dribbling with both feet is the most important thing at this age. Next to having fun that is...

[NHRef]

At this age, you have 1 primary goal: If the kids want to play again next season, you did your primary job. Secondary, teach em to dribble with both feet and not kick with their toe.