So I am going to be coaching my son this spring. He is over the moon excited. Very pee wee soccer. I have experience running youth sports at the YMCA, and once upon a time, I reffed very young kids. To be honest, I did not necessarily volunteer, I did not check that box. However, I indicated my experience and being a STH. I guess that gets you the gig in Green, Ohio. Still I thought I would lean on the many good people around here for any suggestions. I figure being there on time and bringing enthusiasm is one of the biggest things for a soccer team comprised of three/four-year-old kids. What reminded me of my want to seek out your suggestions was an email I received yesterday with this promotion: Is it just me or does this ad make our guys look very… odd?
I've seen this kind of "serious" look before in ads... I think they do it with the Jackets some too....
Keep it simple and fun. My dad used to coach very small children and he would use the analogy that the soccer field was a hallway and the goals were doors. You had to keep the ball in the hallway and try to put it through the other end's doorway while keeping it out of your own doorway. Really small kids seem to grasp that and then you could go from there. But have little hope for any semblance of positioning and organization. I remember watching my nephew play soccer as a wee one. It was a clump of kids around a ball, everyone kicking at it. The ball would somehow get knocked out of the group, and the mass of bodies would just move over to it.
Swarm. That is what I called that group of kids swarming around the ball. Some of the easiest (and pleasant) money I ever made was reffing those little kids. Bees to honey.
Make sure they have fun, keep the drills short, and keep them moving. Everyone should have a ball, rather than them standing in a line waiting for a turn. Great game - Kick the coach. Have them try to hit you with a ball. They dribble, shoot, and can get a little creative.
US Soccer has online coaching modules for 4v4 Soccer that includes drills and other practice planning tools. I'm planning on using it for my daughter's U7 Girls team this year. Ohio North typically has a few of those discounted Crew Ticket packages. That said in this picture, they look more like they need hard hats and retro Crew jerseys.
I'm looking through this now for my daughters U8. It's some good general info, not sure how well it translates to U5. But it certainly doesn't hurt, and the online 4v4 grassroots coaching license is like $25. and takes a couple hours We call this ouch, but yes, I agree.
I've coached my 7 year old and 4 year old for a few years now and especially for the younger ones its best to give them some sort of game to play and less of drills. If you think you have time for 3 or 4 things...come prepared with 6 or 7. Expect some ideas to fall flat and not work...just move on quickly when that happens. Get down on their level when you talk to them...sit on the ground/get them to laugh/ask them non soccer things (what is your favorite ice cream, favorite food, etc)...a lot of times the kids are as nervous as you and it helps everyone break the ice. Here are my go to things: Foot race end line to end line (every kid loves to race) Dribble from end line to end line not focusing on how fast you can go but how many touches you can get Setup cones in the center circle. Pretend those are buildings and the kids are monsters and have to knock down the buildings with their ball. Get them to roar and act like monsters...this works unbelievably well. Walk around and put the cones upright so they always have a fresh batch. Treasure Hunt - coach is the pirate but lost his treasure. Have someone scatter a lot of something (we have a ton of those flat disc/cones that work) on one side of the field. When you say go the kids dribble and pick up the cones (1 at a time) and bring it back to the coach. Red light/Green light, simon says, freeze tags are all good stand bys. My oldest's team loves Sharks N Minnows and World Cup Good luck!
I'm now technically a "professional" club coach (U8). But I told my parents, that my biggest objective is to keep it fun for the girls. If i were the best coach there ever was and made each of my girls the next Carly Lloyd, it would all be for naught if they didn't have fun and didn't want to keep playing. Otherwise, the lots and lots of touches. The most difficult thing for me is to not be competitive. I want to win darn it! On my indoor team i have to constantly tell myself it's great the girls are passing the ball around, even though they make dangerous passes back on defensive side, or make a pass when they have an open path to dribble to goal. Other drills/games that are fun and good for learning touches and dribbling Red light/green light beehive sharks and minnows (also look up ball wrestling - a good way to end practice on a high note... but so is ouch)
Yea i found any game/activity where you can get them to pretend to be something else like a car, Disney character, or animal almost always works. But you have to be prepared to get a little goofy with them. As they get older and start to listen more/longer, check out Youtube for some great drills.
Yeah this. And for emphasis. Every kid needs a ball bring extras as many as you can. Also as kids start arriving I got them to juggle the ball while waiting for the official start time.
Sharks and minnows was a big hit for me too. Having an assistant coach (my wife) was good to occupy kids that had been knocked out of a game.
Variation on World Cup linked above. Every player for themselves. Coach plays "goalie" (halfheartedly). Start with one ball, then throw out a second. Then 3 or 4 at a time. Then all the balls.
Kids line up on the end line (the minnows) and the coach (the shark) is on the field. The kids try to dribble past the shark and get to the midfield line and are safe. If the kid dribbles out of bounds or the shark kicks one of their balls out of bounds then they become a shark on the next go around. You continue going back and forth until all the minnows are sharks.
My kid is lucky. His coach mother is too tired to ask anything at the beginning of a coach meeting on a Thursday night. So I did not grab a bag of shirts ("jerseys"). Since we live in Northeast Ohio, I would bet you guys can guess which color scheme was left for my slim picking at the end of the meeting. Markus is super pumped. He wanted to be Crew.
So have practices started yet Chelsey? If so, how is it going? If you’re looking for a great resource for drills that focus on footskills, I would recommend Coerver Coaching. I used it when my kids started playing soccer many years ago.
The Sunday after the next home game begins a practice/game schedule. They do a 30 min practice/30 min “game” for six Sundays. It was the most I was comfortable committing to what with my husband’s and my schedules. I was going to spend some free time next week prepping some fun stuff for practices. I am already worried Markus is going to dominate.