U-8's help

[ttujosh]

So I have coached several teams, but never this age group. What kind of drills would you suggest? I know this is the perfect time to develop good habits, but also to provide a fun enviroment so the kids dont want to quit.
Suggestions?

[blind_clown]

Make sure they know the right way to kick the ball; what part of the foot to use for a pass, for a shot. Partner up, back and forth, coaches walk around to check.

Throw ins have to be practiced if your league uses them. They're not too important, but they have to learn.

The concept of passing is just coming into their minds at this age, so play passing games or reward for completing a certain number of passes in a scrimmage (5 in a row=goal).

Start making them aware of positions, but keep it to offense/defense and left/right/middle. Bumble bee situations will still happen, but this is the year to really try to move away from it.

Keep it simple. Keep it fun. Don't make them wait in lines and any explanations should be 30 seconds or less. Set up drills while they're playing something else or during water breaks. Make sure you get the post game snack taken care of.

[spartanpele]

bc...good stuff....

Keep it simple: passing, trapping, dribbling, shooting, offense, defense, LOTG basics. Keep them busy, make it fun and don't stress out about wins-losses.

[EJDad]

Coached u-8s last year. I found that indirect learning worked really well- set up games that have them performing a skill (tag while dribbling, foxes and hunters, sharks and minnows, dirty back yard, etc) with out focusing on the skill itself. Lots of repetitions and they have fun. They are concentrating on the game not "practicing" a skill

[blind_clown]

(tag while dribbling, foxes and hunters, sharks and minnows, dirty back yard, etc)

The cool names really do seem to be important at this age.

[blind_clown]

bc...good stuff....

Keep it simple: passing, trapping, dribbling, shooting, offense, defense, LOTG basics. Keep them busy, make it fun and don't stress out about wins-losses.

Careful with LOTG basics. You've got the double danger of overload and inexperienced refs who may have their own versions. Best way to do this is indirectly, make sure it goes forward on a kick off, they do TIs right, call fouls in practice, etc. Biggest problem is usually keeper passbacks and where they can go (if you have keepers).

Ignoring wins-losses is huge. Not to say some of the players won't be aware, but your focus should be development and playing every player in every position.

[IASocFan]

... What kind of drills would you suggest? I know this is the perfect time to develop good habits, but also to provide a fun enviroment so the kids dont want to quit.
Suggestions?

Drills are not what you want for U8. You want GAMES!

Games like:
dribble the ball into the goal - two cones
dribble the ball past the monsters - also known as monster in the middle:
Set up two rows of cones about 10m apart and about 20m long. One or two monsters (designated teammates) are in the middle. The rest try to dribble from one end of the cones to the other. The monsters try to kick the balls away from the players. THose who didn't get their ball to the other end now become monsters.
pass the ball between your partner's legs
make your own games
check out some books from the library - they're a ton

[RonP811]

Other than the end-of-practice scrimmage, I don't have them do anything for more than 4-5 minutes. If you have them spend any more time than that on a drill/game, they get bored. At this age I'm a believer in dribbling, dribbling and more dribbling. I come up with as many dribbling games as possible for use during practices. In a given practice I might break the practice up into nine 5-minute units plus a 15-minute scrimmage. Of the nine five-minute units, I probably spend six of the units on a variety of dribbling games/drills (shark, relay races, red light-green light, etc.). I don't get into passing at this age. For one, I don't think they are ready to succeed at this. For another, I feel that if you teach them to excel at dribbling now, passing will be easier later. My rationale is that if they become strong, CONFIDENT dribblers it will be easier for them to learn to dribble with their head up when they are U9/U10 which in turn makes it easier to succeed at passing the ball at the U9/U10 level. Other things I stress are aggression (1v1 with me throwing the ball in the middle and they charge when I call out their number, shielding), shooting with both feet (in every practice I have them do a drill where I roll them a ball to their right foot and then one to their left foot to shoot. If you start them shooting with both feet when they are young they don't develop a weak foot), goalkeeping briefly each practice (ready position, come off the line on breakaways, etc.), trapping. I don't work on plays. I don't work on passing. Like I said, I'm only interested in developing the most basic fundamentals at this age (dribbling, aggression, shooting with both feet and trapping). These are the things I think they can grasp at this age, and I think if you arm them with these fundamentals they are better prepared for the more sophisticated parts of the game when they get older. And I agree with the comments I've seen about creating games as much as possible instead of pure drills. The key to teaching is to trick them into thinking they're having fun while still teaching them something at the same time. For example, to get them to change direction with the ball I overplay them to one side then another back and forth forcing them to go the other way over and over and over, and I call it the monster game where I roar when I overplay to one side which is the signal for them to change direction. When I teach them to create space when they receive a ball with their back to the goal they are headed, I teach them to make two touches -- one to the side away from the defender, then another when they should head up the field -- I call this the bowling alley game where I set up cones like a bowling alley and after they make the first touch to the side they then make the second touch and dribble up the bowling alley and at the end of the bowling alley there are empty liter bottles of pop that they kick at (the bowling pins). This is essentially a drill, but by giving it a fun name it seems fun to them. Another game is I put a couple of dozen empty water bottles and pop liters all over the field and call it avoid the land mines. This teaches them to dribble in small space and to change direction, but to them it's a game. Decide what you want to work on and then make up a game that will make it fun.

[blind_clown]

Other than the end-of-practice scrimmage, I don't have them do anything for more than 4-5 minutes. If you have them spend any more time than that on a drill/game, they get bored. At this age I'm a believer in dribbling, dribbling and more dribbling. I come up with as many dribbling games as possible for use during practices. In a given practice I might break the practice up into nine 5-minute units plus a 15-minute scrimmage. Of the nine five-minute units, I probably spend six of the units on a variety of dribbling games/drills (shark, relay races, red light-green light, etc.). I don't get into passing at this age. For one, I don't think they are ready to succeed at this. For another, I feel that if you teach them to excel at dribbling now, passing will be easier later. My rationale is that if they become strong, CONFIDENT dribblers it will be easier for them to learn to dribble with their head up when they are U9/U10 which in turn makes it easier to succeed at passing the ball at the U9/U10 level. Other things I stress are aggression (1v1 with me throwing the ball in the middle and they charge when I call out their number, shielding), shooting with both feet (in every practice I have them do a drill where I roll them a ball to their right foot and then one to their left foot to shoot. If you start them shooting with both feet when they are young they don't develop a weak foot), goalkeeping briefly each practice (ready position, come off the line on breakaways, etc.), trapping. I don't work on plays. I don't work on passing. Like I said, I'm only interested in developing the most basic fundamentals at this age (dribbling, aggression, shooting with both feet and trapping). These are the things I think they can grasp at this age, and I think if you arm them with these fundamentals they are better prepared for the more sophisticated parts of the game when they get older. And I agree with the comments I've seen about creating games as much as possible instead of pure drills. The key to teaching is to trick them into thinking they're having fun while still teaching them something at the same time. For example, to get them to change direction with the ball I overplay them to one side then another back and forth forcing them to go the other way over and over and over, and I call it the monster game where I roar when I overplay to one side which is the signal for them to change direction. When I teach them to create space when they receive a ball with their back to the goal they are headed, I teach them to make two touches -- one to the side away from the defender, then another when they should head up the field -- I call this the bowling alley game where I set up cones like a bowling alley and after they make the first touch to the side they then make the second touch and dribble up the bowling alley and at the end of the bowling alley there are empty liter bottles of pop that they kick at (the bowling pins). This is essentially a drill, but by giving it a fun name it seems fun to them. Another game is I put a couple of dozen empty water bottles and pop liters all over the field and call it avoid the land mines. This teaches them to dribble in small space and to change direction, but to them it's a game. Decide what you want to work on and then make up a game that will make it fun.

Paragraphs, bullets, anything to break this up would be extremely helpful.