Looking for some help here. While we know that FUN is the mainstay of youth soccer in the mini format for the kids 6 & 7 or 8 & 9. As a coach just where do you begin to run a effective session for practice? What is the first few things one should concentrate on in preparing them to play in a league? Given the attention span and cognitive abilities are limited I assume lots of related material to a specific theme? How long is an effective practise? What portion of the practise for instructional games? Should we scrimage at some point all together or is small 3 aside ok? Just what can be effectively taught and in what order should it be introduced? I appreciate any and all thoughts! thankyou!
I would not lump 7 to 9s in the same boat. The attention span of a 9 yr old is a lot longer then a 7 year old. You can do a lot with and 8 and 9 yr old. They are starting to become real players at 9 yrs. old. Can handle 2 or 3, 1 and half hour practes a week at this age. On What to teach all age groups all the technical skills needed to play the game. Push pass controling the ball on the ground, and in the air, shooting and even volleys. Dribbling and moves to beat people 1 v 1 and a movie to reverse their field. Tactics - simple tactics takeovers, give and goes. Attacking first attacker, second attacker and third attacking. Defense pressure first defender, cover 2 nd defender and balance further away from the ball. Also thinking a head first touch, and thought behind their pass and putting spin on the ball to make it do what you want it to do, and movement of the body to set up the opponent and the keeper for your true intention. So they can do a lot and they can learn alot.
First off thanks for taking the time to respond. I regularily coach older kids and admittedly I remain a bit hesitant about what to expect, what to demand or what to initiate for the wee ones. I agree each kid as an individual can be vastly different than another be it a year difference in age or simply the mental and physical developement of some exceeds others. I play them in 3 on 3 or 5 on 5 groupings to emphise triangle and diamond shaping. I ask they listen and to ask questions if they do not understand something or wish to know more. I run them through a gauntlet which I call soccer olympics. They travel with the ball around a course set up with many different avenues of success. They kick, run, jump, crawl, shoot, pass, dribble, head, knee and throw their way around to the various stations. A wonderful warm up and it lets me see how each is progressing on their abilities. Just a point my heading drill is low impact, I suspend a ball in the air usually off a goal crossbar and the kids head that benign dangling ball. Then they toss their own ball into the air and let it bounce trying to head it if they wish into the goal. I have them team up and toss a nerf or low plastic bubble ball. When the kids are eager I toss the real soccer ball gently at their heads to ensure good service. Later as their confidence and abilities mproves they assume that role as well. I emphises. the proper contact and motion and reinforce doing it correctly. I would never force a youth to head but if we show the correct method they will at some point begin the transition. I have 3 or 4 types of ball retrival training aids by which a player can kick the ball and it is elasticed to return. They are a useful tool as is a training wall for which to rebound the ball off of. I also use 10 yard ropes clipped onto the players by way of belts to visulize the concept of triangles, who the immediate players you are connected too and how a team moves in unison up and down, back and forth across the field in supporting roles. The ball is a toy and the game is the teacher. Let the kids play with the toy more often and they will get better. The concept I teach is based on a principle called SPAM. Space, Pace, Angles & Movement! Kids generally catch on to things if they can actually are doing them. I will often stop and make the point when they do instinctively the very thing or point I wish to make. In a recent practise we had a 8 year old young lady cry out "pass I am open I am in space" and she truly was about 15 yards behind the opposition free and clear. The problem was there was 3 defenders betwen her and her teammate with the ball who could not effectively give her the ball unless she moved to an angle which she did and the ball was hit towards her she reached out with sole of the foot and drew the ball back and turned to follow seting up for a shot on the cones. I went to full time glorification, SUPER MOVE Mellissa syndrome and pointed out the fantastic space, angle and movements used in the execution of this manuver. We run a ball drill where a single ball is placed in front of 2 players you then say the word draw each tries to snap out the foot and draw the ball back with the sole of the foot. You make up a story with the word draw in it several times. Kids like it and in point of fact so did I. We do the same for other control drils as well. In teaching dribbling or other techniques I find the attention span is often quite limited so try to encourage them to try things without actually breaking down the kinesiology of the movements. This was foreign to me as I will often demonstrate the proper motion by videoing the correct way in a pause by pause segment to hightlight, non kicking foot, body weight distribution, foot contact. head down well you get the picture. It is easy to over coach these wee ones but as Rich points out many are unquenchably thirsy for information and demand more than others. It boils down to expectations and the willingness to adapt the practices to fit their needs as wel as their wishes. I tend to do far less talking at the wee ones and to some extent it has made me a better communicator to the older groups as well.
the most important thing is just to instill in them early that winning is the most important thing.. who cares if its fun... you play to win.
This is typical of the rubbish spouted by this knuckledragger.The most important thing to instill in the children is the game is fun. they get enough pressure put on them as they get older. Too much pressure early can destroy any love of the Game..
I agree. This age, just keep them moving. There are a lot of ways to incorporate movements, skills, etc into active play with the players not even knowing that they are WORKING on DRILLS. Keep it FUN. Why else would 7 year olds PLAY soccer?
i strongly , but respectfully, disagree. it is vital for you to teach them that winning is important early on. You are cheating these kids if you dont give them the skills they will need as a professional soccer player.. they need to look at soccer as a business and not a game. they have plenty of time to learn dribbling and passing but coaches should be honest with these kids that you play to make money and become famous, not just to have fun.
So, you want your 7 year old to be paid. Let's be realistic. If it is all work and no play....DUH. Burn out, big time. Look how many get burn out from going to school for 12 years. And that is not even counting pre-school, kindergarten, college, etc. I am not saying not to emphasize winning, but to not over emphasize. You are leading these CHILDREN in for a big let down. ? Were you lead this way? Or are you harboring negative feelings that you are a wannabe that wasn't. Go to the statistics concerning turout for the big paying jobs in soccer. Most will tell you to be sure and have a back up plan. What about the injury factor, the factor that they just do no measure up. Also, how long is the average Soccer Playiang Life. Have you actually spoken to a PRO Player. I mean really....spoke with them. What about a second opinion. What works for some, does not necesariy work for others.
im glad you arent my little boys coach. i shudder to think of how many good players dont succeed because they arent taught that to the victor go the spoils.. i make my son take 100 free kicks a night and he doesnt complain because he knows that soccer is his only chance to make somthing of himself. good kid, 10 years old and strong as an ox, and he knows the reason to play the game. he lives to win
I hope you son has a very long life. I really do. But, realistically, you should seek psychological help for yourself. I think that you would fall much harder than he. He is just pleasing you. And if you do not have the decency, intelligence, and foresight to see this. You DO need help. And they put the blame on video games !
you dont know me pal so dont judge me.. whats so wrong about him wanting to be a professional soccer player so he can get me and his mom a nice house and nice things... he has his priorities in order and knows what he wants. whats so bad about that???
you are a sick ************ and everything that is wrong with sports today...people like you will have their day...
youre right, i probably will, but that boy is gonna make me alot of money one day and im gonna enjoy it because ive worked hard to get him where he is and where he will be. think what you will about me, but my point will be made when he is professional at 16.. remember the name: Romando Alvarez de Cruz Vargas, because my boy is gonna be a star!
With a father like you my heart bleeds for your son.You are well on the way to having him Hate you if he survives to become an adult.Child Abuse comes in many forms and you have just described one of them. You are a SICK B******D.
i assistant coached in a rec league for my dad. not saying i have any credible experience, but me and my dad do this drill just to get them to go to the ball and win it. you take cones and set them up about twenty yards apart. you stand in the middle, or towards the slower player if its a huge difference in speed. you drop the ball and they have to get it and take it past the other persons cone. just a rec league thing. it also is a decent warm up before games. also in the closing games we got to where me and my dAD would play eep away from the team. they would move and try and win the ball. they seemed to be much more aggressive come game time after this. my 2 cents. Ben
back to the original topic (the less said about the interruption the better) I thought richie hit the nail on the head, with more of an emphasis now on team play and seeing the game develop rather than just watching the play and the ball... Things that most players at this age should work on; combination play passing/movement (too many players passing to the spot their teammate is at, rather than into space or in front of their teammate) basic movement off the ball/attacking space also a good time to concentrate on players using both feet for passing and shooting. My U-10 team will be practicing 2 times/week for an hour. I could see 90 minutes but would think that the last 30 of that should just be scrimmaging. I wouldn't spend much time at all on heading, other than maybe teaching them how to avoid getting hurt. Mostly because the ball just isn't in the air that much and you'll be taking away from skills that will be put to use right away.
Definitely dribbling, too. Too many coaches at the lower levels emphasize passing the ball so much that players never really develop the instinct to push forward when they have an opening or to take on a defender one-on-one when they see an opportunity. And drills such as 3v3 can really help kids to learn how to pass backwards. I was refereing a friendly between the boys' team I coach and the girls' team (both U12) and found it funny how a player, running backwards to the ball, would try to turn with the ball while closely marked instead of passing it backward to a wide open teammate less than ten yards away.
I’m not sure how you call it in English, we call it a ring. It’s a great but simple game. 4 or 5 players pass the ball on the outside of the ring, the two inside try to touch it. When they do it they go on the outside and the player who touched it lasted goes inside. The game is played in 20 time 20m space. It is at it’s best when played with two touches.
Not sure if you were addressing this to me, but... I'm 28, and at present I'm a goalkeeper in search of a team. But since I'm moving from this area at the end of the year, may search has become less enthusiastic.
I gotta tell you, the easiest place to earn money by playing football is China. People have gone crazy about it, the crowds are huge.But because of their lack of tradition they don t have enough home-grown players. Some players from Croatia who went there say they earned there 4 times more than they could earn in western Europe.
Dribbling. Under 10, teach them first of all dribbling, ball control, then a little striking the ball, sidefoot/drive/chip, and trapping. Don't start in on passing to the under 10s, WAY TOO OFTEN in the past I see coaches telling tiny kids pass the ball; this instills in them a feeling it's not OK to dribble, that they are a "ballhog", and the most necessary skill, ball control at the feet, suffers because of it. When they get good enough, 10 or 11 years old and they're beginning to play 11 on a side, start in with passing, try to get them comfortable with the idea of moving the ball to the open man, someone mentioned "The Ring" or as we called it, 3 v 1 or 5 v 2 or 4v2, played within the center circle.
I was on a travel team in 3rd grade (8-9 years old), and so I'll give as much information as I can remember from those practices. The team started out playing relatively poorly, but by the end of the year, we were one of the top teams in the area, and even won the Columbia Invitational. We practiced for 90 minutes three times a week, and had weekly games and occasional tournaments. One thing that I distinctly remember doing is 100 toe touches and 100 waddles as quickly as possible each practice. (Toe touches meaning you alternate between left and right foot, touching the top of the ball with your toes. The ball is a few inches in front of the player. Waddles were nudging the ball back and forth between your feet, with the instep of your foot, trying to keep as much control as possible.) We also practiced something else where you rolled the ball (by stepping on it) from in front of you to behind you, all while turning in the same motion. The coaches also taught us several basic fakes such as the fake kick and the stepover, and most importantly, the cut. Oh, and we were taught the correct way to strike a ball, etc. In terms of games/activities, these are what I remember. One thing that we did often was set up a square with cones on the corners, maybe 15m to a side. All the players had a ball and stood inside the square. The goal of the game was to poke other people's balls outside the square while protecting your own ball from everyone else. In retrospect, that was a GREAT exercise. I also remember one practice where the players got into partners, and stood ~10m apart from each other. They would alternate throwin in the ball to their partner, and their partner would have to try to head it back to them. I also remember a lot of 1 on 1 situations. For example, there was a line for defense and a line for attack (all players alternated between both) and the ball was given to the attacker. His objective was to get enough space to get a shot off and score a goal, while the defender obviously tried to stop this. One final thing that I can remember doing is "the ring." 1-2 players are inside the ring, and all the others (3-7) try to pass the ball around without letting the defenders gain control. If the defender did gain control, the person on the outside switched with him. I wish I could remember more of what we did, because those coaches were absolutely AMAZING, but the only other thing I can think of is that we entered into a tournament that consisted on teams that were one year older than us. I think that helped a fair amount (even though we went 0-2-1). The only lesson I can learn from that is challenge kids, and they will rise to the challenge. I personally would recommend asking the children to watch at least one professional game a week, but obviously you can't really enforce that. Lastly, to Kelly Vargas, I absolutely pity your kid for a multitude of reasons. Let him have fun. It's the only way. Look at Brazil. Doesn't it look like they are having fun while they play? They seem to do fine in World Cups (what are those 5 stars for, again?), so obviously having fun is not a problem. A few years ago, the Orioles had a team full of big names that weren't performing well. However, since they were big names, they played in the all-star game. The coach at the time gave them a speech after the all-star break saying that he watched them play, and could see they were having fun, and told them to just have fun while they played no matter what. Lo and behold, they went on a rampage winning something like 32 of 36 games immediately after that, and even getting into a race for a playoff spot. Let the kid have fun, and he'll improve more than if you force him to practice.