Hi there! Both my kids really excel in Soccer but more importantly love the game! My U-6 rascal scored 15 goals for his AYSO team this past season, the next person behind him scored 4, so he's truly got something special going on. I know he's just a little guy and I don't want to push this, but I do want to nurture his talent and love for the game. I happen to coach a soccer clinic for kids in Westwood, Los Angeles and though they have a great time in my clinic I want to explore more serious or advanced clinics out there for little guys in Los Angeles. Anyone know of any they can recommend? And if you have any pointers about keeping my kids engaged and having fun with the game let me know! One more question, I'm unfamiliar with club soccer, is this something that is available for kids this young?
Just keep them playing, if you are comfortable with it let them dribble around the house, it works on good control and dribbling skills. Have friends over and setup little pickup games, at this age it is all about having fun, and getting good with the ball at their feet. Take them in the backyard and let them juggle, dribble, pass, and shoot with you, or try some coerver training with them if they would like to do that. Don't push them hard, the passion must come from them but if they have it just preach to them playing and touching the ball as much as possible. Keep a ball or two in your trunk so whenever there is free time and they have the desire they can knock the ball around a little. Also forget to mention, if they can sit through and would enjoy it watching games always helps a real lot.
Excellent tips, I follow all of them actually, but havent heard of this coerver thing, what is that? Thanks!
There is a current discussion in the girls forum. No offense, but statements like that give me the heebie-jeebies.
You know, there's no way of explaining how a 6 year old is doing well without throwing out a fact about his goals, people get weird about this stuff so I apologize if I offended your parental sensibilities. I don't have him hopped up on roids and he's a healthy, well balanced kid who plays because he loves to play. No one forces him to score all the goals and no one fills his ego. Relax.
He's relaxed, scoring 11 more goals than anyone else obviously isn't bad, but at such a young age that should not be the focus is all he is saying.
Agreed, and it's not his focus, again just trying to give a barometer to explain one of the reasons I'd like to explore the sport more with him, not trying to tout his super-boy abilities nor any weird crazy-parent desires. Thanks again for the help guys
Actually there is. If a dad said his 6 yr old is doing well, most of us at the board will take your word and be exceeding glad for both you and him. What gave us the "heebie-jeebies" was your assertion that "he's truly got something special going on". Just a quick dose of reality, recently I was talking to a dad whose kid is on the US Youth National Team, and he still doesn't think that his kid is all that. I don't think he was faking it. He's just really cool about the whole deal. The Coerver thing is good though. You definitely cannot go wrong by looking into it. Best of luck to your kid.
Okay, you guys win. Clearly I'm out of line here and will just bow out now before feelings are hurt. Get a grip though, I wasn't trying to tout my kids abilities just trying to clear up a quick barometer and was attacked as if I was some kind of nutty soccer-dad. I coach a clinic and I'm the first one to keep my kids in check about the sport, with emphasis on fun as the number one rule. My kids play because they want to play and have a good time. One of them happens to also excel at the game so I thought I'd find out more about nurturing that enthusiasm, instead I get belittled by the parent police and am knocked down every other post. So I'm just going to stop visiting this thread for now. Thanks for nothing, learn to hold back the over abuse of PC ethics, cynicism, newbie bashing and parenting of parents. Your forum will do better that way. Adios.
These kind of barometers are pretty worthless at U6. In fact, not until puberty hits do you really know what you might have. Keep that in mind in the coming years. This post is good evidence that you are the kind of parent you deny being. If you were open minded, you'd be sticking around to learn what you obviously don't know for the benefit of your kids. And BTW, there are Coerver DVDs available.
Hey, you have to understand that there are few people here (I'm not one of them, I'm still learning the ropes here) who've been on this forum a long time AND know youth soccer really, really well. People who really have seen in all, been there, done that, and so forth. Don't take the criticism to heart, because you might learn something. Trust me--I'm the parent of a U-11 player, and I've been through some of what you're describing already. So please don't think anyone's disparaging you or your son when it's pointed out that scoring oodles of goals at such a young age doesn't really mean much. MY son was a scoring machine when he was U-7, so much so that I was convinced he was a really, really exceptional player. But once he stepped up to the next level (an interleague competition prior to going travel) I found out that he would need to work really hard and really persistently just to make any contribution to his team at all, forget being the star. So...I've been there. And it can be a little bit of shock when you realize your little fellow isn't the biggest fish anymore once you move to a slightly bigger pond. Or the pond after that. Maybe your kid IS going to be a great player. He's got a couple things going for him already: 1) He's enjoying the game, and started kicking the ball around at a young age; 2) He's got a parent who supports him, is willing to work with him and help him develop, and who cares about the sport. Lucky kid!
Bigred, Thanks for the one kind response in this thread. It was the approach of others I found to be unsettling, not their advice. I never said my kid was a wonder-kid and as you mentioned I've seen both my boys humbled at higher levels. If folks would slow down and read my intentions instead of attacking me, they'd find out that all I wanted to know was how I could nurture their enthusiasm, as I've stated over and over again. Everyone seems proud of their parenting police skills and instead of supporting choose to critique my every word, even out of context. I'm just going to browse other kids soccer forums out there that will be a little more welcoming, I'm done with this one. But thanks for your support, bigred.
Dont worry about the comments. I found that there is literally nothing you can say that won't elicit some type of absurd hypercritical reply here and the information is great. i bet i get one.
A slight exaggeration, don't you think? In other words, you are going to look until you find a forum that tells you what you want to hear, rather than what you should be hearing. GN, take a look at the thread Charlieblanko started 2 years ago when his daughter was 10 and witness a transformation: https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454545 Charlie started out with posts like this: Charlie's daughter had been playing in goal almost exclusively for 3 years. He didn't initially want to hear that his daughter would benefit from playing on the field, because it was contrary to what his daughter's coach was telling him. Two years later Charlie gave us an update: Like any parent, Charlie only wanted the best for his daughter. Up to that point he had been listening to his daughter's coach, a coach who might have had the success of a U11 team in mind, not the success of a 10 year old goalkeeper. Charlie had been listening to that coach because he was hearing what he wanted to hear, that his daughter was destined to be the next Hope Solo in goal. For all we know, Charlie's daughter may end up to be the next Hope Solo, an All American high school striker, but it might not have happened if he hadn't stuck around this forum.
OK, forget that you kept track of the number of goals your kid scored. Fine, I get that. Don't totally agree, but its fine. The fact that you know who the number two scorer on the team was and how many goals they had is the part that really bothers me.
I seem to recall when my oldest son was 6 playing in AYSO he had 34 goals in just the fall season. One game he had 6 goals, but who's counting. He was a back in college and was his teams second leading scorer and MVP. Now at 35 he still playing.
You know what I remember when my youngest was this age? She was at a town camp put on by a USL group. It was just before pick-up time and they were playing in a 4v4 game. She was dribbling to goal, but as games with 5 and 6 year olds tend to be, it became a swarm around the ball. Her only outlet was behind her and without even looking she delivered a beautiful back heel pass to the only player not part of the swarm (and fortunately it was to a teammate ). The coach, a former indoor league professional, eyes popped out of his head. I'm sure he wasn't expecting that from a 5 year old, not to mention a girl. At that point I knew I had a midfielder in the making.
At 7/8 my son was the least skilled on his team and let his teammates take the ball away from him. At 12, he isn't the least skilled nor the most skilled. I'm still waiting on him to score a goal this year. But he is playing competitively for a coach who wants to bring out the best in my son. We could drop a notch or two in leagues and he could get more playing time. But he wouldn't get a coach who expects to win and who expects to develop. The nice thing? He is playing at a level above the studs from the U7 team and enjoys beating the snot out of their team. Two years ago, right before the first tryouts, those boys were on top of the world, dominating their Rec league. After two years of trying to meet high expectations, I think my son is playing better than them. And I constantly walk the line of parental expectations and nurturing. *I* ruined one sport for him. Now I work on keeping him the game every year. Start early at keeping it light and fun. Incorporate skill development into play - if I had started that earlier, my son would be choosing between baseball and soccer. If a "home practice" isn't working, go with the flow of how the child is willing to touch the ball.
Hello Bird, Once a player can do a takeover right after that you can teach the back heal. All they have to do is wait until the player comes for the takeover, and just waits a little longer and let's that player pass him. Then make a back heal to that player, and it is easy and it looks great. If you can do a horizontal takeover in the attacking third you can do a back heal in the attacking third and not lose the ball. Parent's go wild when they see that.
I great thing for team building that the coach can do is tell the team that you want to get your son that goal. "So let's look to get him the ball." A great goal for a young youth team to have is try to get everyone on the team to score a goal. You can still win, and do that as well.
There is nothing wrong with bragging about your kids. Actually I enjoy hearing parents do that. It is not a bad thing. All my kids all 4 of them are adults now. My youngest is 26, and I like talking about them when they do good things. When they don't I have to shut up, and I hate to shut up. Now I spend most of my time bragging about my two grand daughters Alina 5 yrs old and my Mia. My little red head angel who is almost 2, and can she dribble the little soccer ball we got her. They know I like to talk about them. The best thing is I still get calls from them to tell me when something good happens in their lives. They are still not too old to make that call to me.
I think I will answer the posters original question. "And if you have any pointers about keeping my kids engaged and having fun with the game let me know!" At that age you want the parents, the kids and you to have fun as well. If they see you are really into the game and coaching, and having fun teaching they will catch that love of game. That frankly is the most important thing that you can give them. That will keep everyone including parents going to practice and playing. Try to keep your practice at ages 5 and 6 and under an hour. Because of their attention span. Have practice early in the morning when hardly anyone else is around. It helps hold their attention span. Make a practice plan and account for every minute. Playing is better then wasting time talking. Demonstrate and have them do it, and go wold when they do sopmething good so everyone can hear it. Encourage everyone to dribble when they win the ball. Everything we do in the game is off the dribble except free kicks. ---------------------------------------------------- "One more question, I'm unfamiliar with club soccer, is this something that is available for kids this young?" Good question here in NYC youth club soccer startes at 6 yr old until under 19. In California I don't know when it starts. You can call the USSF in Chicago to find out. Then get surprised when they talk about your 6 yrs old in terms of "his playing Career." That what they said to me when the USSF was located in NYC. Your son is a dominate player in AYSO so it might be good to move up to club travel soccer if they have it at his age. But, it can't be just your idea it also has to come from him. Advice if they have it. Go see more then one club that does teams at his age level before you decide which club he should play for, and watch them train first. If you like what you see go see them play a game see how much playing time everyone get's on average. That way you will make a more informed choice on which club he should try out for. Remember he might not be taken automatically he has to try out. Club soccer is great, but it is not for every player and not for every parent either. It is a big commitment for the player and for the parent as well. Good luck
Something you can do to nuture your kids' love of the game is love it yourself...what I mean is, spend evenings watching soccer games and talking soccer with your spouse/family, go to games, good ones - MLS, high school, top club games in your area, ect. Your kids will start to join in, and will learn from watching the games. As far as young kids playing club soccer, most will start at u-9 (academy? I think thats what they call it) and your son can up a year or 2 if he's good enough. Out here, they do have some U-8's playing competitively in tourneys and in a league, but there's just not that much competition. Most, if not all, the clubs offer teams that play in-house very young - some as young as u-4 (1 night a week a parent volunteers to hold "practice" and games on Saturday) & they feed into that club at about u-8 or u-9, start having trainers, more practice, ect. FYI, some camps start at about 5 or 6 y/o....they're held in the summer, winter and spring, just search on google. *sorry about all the heat you got for your post, I didn't see anything wrong with it.
Like others have said, just try to make it fun for them. I 'train' a 5 and 8 year old, but I do a lot of skill work in as fun an environment as possible. Then we play some small sided game involving their parents at the end. Improving technical skills cannot be overestimated. Even if your son never wants to play beyond, say high school, he'll get more out of the game by being more skilled. The Coerver system is outstanding. Every top coach I've talked to around my area here on the east coast swears by it in some form. They have a $80-100 5 dvd set called 'Make Your Move' that is great. Breaks things down extremely well and very well planned. You'd do your son a huge favor by getting it and teaching him the moves in there. They also have more drill type exercises that aren't moves you would use to beat an opponent, per se, but will improve his general ball familiarity and comfort. Go on insidesoccer.com and look at the exercises for U-8 and U-10 that they do at clubs like Santos (a top club in Brazil). It's simple, but great for kids that age. If he can do anything with the ball, he will be special. For your son, I would recommend looking at the big clubs in your area. Go to ussoccer.com and look around for the development academy section (alternatively, google ussda). Find the clubs closest to you and look on their websites to see what kind of programs or clinics they have for kids your son's age. These are essentially more or less recognized as the best clubs in the country, so your son should be in a good place if he can join the U-8 or so team at one of these places. You can also talk to the coaches at one of these development academy clubs or maybe try to google/search around for local clubs (non development academy near you. You'd probably want one that has various levels of play (rec, local travel, premier) so your son can progress through the levels as he desires/improves. Generally the coaching should be quality enough at one of these clubs that if your son has talent he'll be nurtured. You'll also learn by talking with coaches and other parents to find out what is best for your son depending upon his ability and desire to play/improve. I hope you don't shy away from the boards due to earlier reactions from other posters. I understand where they're coming from. When you've been around the game at a competitive level for several years you see a lot of parental behavior that grates on you at best and sickens you at worst. Being new you wouldn't have the frame of reference to know that. But if you stay in for the long haul you can run into a lot of crap, just like any youth sport. There's a wealth of information on these boards and a ton of exceedingly experienced individuals around. I suggest takng the overreactions with a grain of salt and trying to find kernals of useful info in everything you see on here. Good luck and have fun.