[Alan S]

I would like to hear what formats are played for U6-U9 in your area.

Do you play 4v4, 5v5, 7v7 or 11v11. What city and state is this in.

Just curious to see if there is a trend.

[nsa]

Most of Massachusetts plays 6v6 (no offside), hence a vote for "other".

Massachusetts has certified the most Associate Referees (Grade 11) in the country to support the small-sided programs in the communities.

[NYfutbolfan]

I live in NY. For the most part, small sided games have been the norm for the last 5 years.

6-7 yr olds - 5v5.

8 yr olds - 6v6.

9 yr olds - 8v8.

Truthfully, there are no magic #'s. The whole idea is to let the children get touches on the ball when they play and the larger the group, the larger the field, the less each child will have the ball on their foot.

When my kids were younger and I supervised the younger age groups of their local club, I had them try some fun and different things.

For instance the goals that the U-6 & U-7 teams were using were 5 feet wide and four feet tall. If a goalie was in front of the goal, he could cover 50% of it without moving, therefore scoring was very difficult. I improvised and had the teams use no goalies. On average, the kids were able to generate maybe 15 shots per team in a 45 minute game. Almost half of these shots were not even on net, so only about 8 had to be defensed. The end result was that the kids always felt like they had a chance to score, the defending team felt an urgent need to defend, the scores of games went up, the shooting on net improved as attempts to go to goal increased. All around, it was a good experience for the team.

Yes, there were some detractors that said that this is not how you play the game of soccer. But, I think they were a little closed minded and didn't expand their horizons to look at what was important for the children from a developmental point of view.

The kids learned how to push the ball upfield, shoot with more accuracy and developed more confidence in their abilities by having some success. 1-0 games at the age of 6-9 years of age does little for their development, physically and mentally.

[dolphinscoach]

In Bellevue, NE, (Bellevue is a small city on the southern edge of Omaha, best known as the home to Offutt AFB (USStratcom HQ), the local soccer club has U5 & U6 play 3 v. 3, with no goalie, using cones as goals. U7 & U8 play 7 v. 7, with goalies in front of 12 ft. x 6 ft. goals.

IMHO, I'd rather goalies not be introduced until around U10. I feel the time spent trying to teach kids goalie basics (e.g., where they can use hands, throwing, punting, etc.) would be better used improving general soccer skills. Most of my U7 kids, even those who have played since age 5, still need to improve dribbling and shooting, and they know little about defending, passing, and trapping.

[jjayg]

Here in Rolling Meadows Illinios we play 3v3 at U-6
6 v 6 no keeper at U-8 and 8 v 8 w/keeper at U-10

We have been playing short sided for about 5 years and it really has worked out well. More touches mean more confidence on the ball which is the most important thing for our youngest players.

[NYfutbolfan]

Originally posted by jjayg
Here in Rolling Meadows Illinios we play 6 v 6 no keeper at U-8.
More touches mean more confidence on the ball which is the most important thing for our youngest players.

I'm so happy to hear that you would also rather play with no keeper at the younger age levels.

One of my other "nuances" that I brought to the younger age levels was playing with 4 goals, each one a few yards from the corners, again without using any goalies. What was the point?

Well, this was one way to teach the children to spread the field. When everybody bunches up on the right near the goal, the children learn to "switch" the play to the left side of the field, to the unguarded goal.

[Paul May]

Our U-6 teams play 4 vs 4, thus giving the enphisis on giving the kids as much touches with the ball as possable, to avoid the kids clumpimg up together on the pitch. U-8 to U-10 we play 6 v 6

[SoccerDale]

In Eastern Pa we play 3v3 (no keeper) at U-6, 4v4 (keeper optional) at U-8, and 8v8 (keeper) at U-10. I would prefer that there always be a sweeper/keeper at all ages to make it a little more realistic.

[blech]

Originally posted by SoccerDale
In Eastern Pa we play 3v3 (no keeper) at U-6, 4v4 (keeper optional) at U-8, and 8v8 (keeper) at U-10. I would prefer that there always be a sweeper/keeper at all ages to make it a little more realistic.

As noted by NYfutbolban in an earlier post, some people think the non-use of goalies is not how you play the game of soccer. I'm guessing you fall into this category. I doubt that a huge debate on the topic would be beneficial, as we're all probably grounded in our preferences. I would note that even when I played during college, we would often have small field, scrimmages, perhaps 6 on 6, with small goals. The offside rule was not enforced, and sometimes we were required to play 3 or 2 or even 1 touch to eliminate dribbling. Were we playing soccer? I'm pretty sure the answer was yes. And, my sense was that we were spending the time on it during practice because this kind of playing develops and focuses on specific skills that are important in the 11 on 11 game. We also did a variation with the two goals, and I use this same drill with the u12 boys that I coach. IMO, the point is that these kids at the u6, u8, and even thereafter are simply developing. With are u6s, I believe it is 6v6, small goals, no goalies, but there are also no practices except for right before the games on Saturdays. I think the benefits of having all of the kids develop "field" skills and permitting some scoring outweigh the negative consequences of delaying the training of goalies.

I also recall spending a week during a summer at a soccer camp where I met these 5 guys from Brazil. After practices were over, they suggested playing small field soccer without goalies as well. So, this is probably proof that it is soccer. Of course, we had to modify the rules again to prevent shooting at the 1 yard goal from more than 15 yards away because they would shoot from midfield and score constantly. This also may explain why they have historically had problems developing good goalies .

[jack921]

If the main objective is to make it fun for the kids, then I think you should have keepers. I find at U-6, U-7 level, it's the only age where almost everyone wants to play keeper. When I coached my daughters' teams at that age, I had to keep rotating the keeper so everyone got a chance.