The coaching strategy: This is the
beginning of a very exciting journey. Everything is new. As a
volunteer soccer coach here your title is more accurately described as
activity leader or organizer. Get the kids and parents to the right
place at the right time and wearing the correct colored shirt is your
first and most important responsibility! When the players do something
good and creative congratulate them and when they do something not so
great encourage them to keep trying and acknowledge one of their other
skills. The environment should feel like a playground where adults are
as unobtrusive as possible. Adults yelling instructions like run,
shoot, pass, etc… only distracts them and may interfere with thoughtful
learning. Use your best judgment as to how to encourage parents not to
be the center of attention. ‘The game teaches itself’ means do your best
to intervene only if necessary and let them play using their own
creative energies. Do not micromanage their decisions during games and
finally please do not forget to organize the after game snacks!
Technical stuff: Dribble, dribble,
and dribble some more. The objective is to get them comfortable with
the ball at their feet while they are moving. They all want to
dribble forward, encourage them to dribble left, right, and even try
backwards. Basically teach them to dribble around stuff. Call the
soccer field a ‘soccer island’ and instruct them to try to get the ball
into to other goal, but keep the ball on the ‘soccer island’. Learning
to turn the ball to keep it on the field is an important skill to
learn.
Many dribbling games are available that the kids
will love. Remember though their attention span is short so come to
pregame practice prepared to do several different fun dribbling drills
and make the drill transitions quickly. Passing is not
part of the curriculum for this age, as they are unable to conceptualize
the advantage it represents. Learning to pass comes after ball control
which for most kids is 8-9 years old.
The terms to get comfortable using during soccer
activities: goal line, side line, offense, defense, out of bounds,
“hands”, kick-off, and goal kick. Corner kicks and throw-ins will be
learned at U-9.
Procedural issues: Just the basics.
The game begins with a ‘kick off’ at midfield and also after each scored
goal. When the ball goes over the goal line play is restarted with a
‘goal kick’. This can be taken anywhere beside the goal and near the
goal line. When the ball goes over the touchline (official soccer term
for the sideline) play should be stopped just long enough to get the
ball back in play. Best to have the kids stop when the ball goes over
the touch line to try to encourage them to turn the ball back into the
field. No throw-ins at U-7. Most typically the nearest parent or
observer will simply nudge it back in. Remember, officially, for the
ball to be ‘out of bounds’ it must completely cross over the
outside edge of the line. At this young age please be flexible and use
your best judgment to help keep the game flowing. Rotate all players
equally so they get equal playing opportunities. No goalies. No
hands. No positions. Just fun. Coaches or a volunteer parent can
function as a referee to help keep the game flowing.
Homework: Absolutely! Encourage the
parents to go out and kick the ball with their kids everyday for 10-15
minutes. This is great fun for the kids and can dramatically improve
their technical skills.
Remember it is all about having fun for everybody
including the coaches and parents! Scoring goals is tons of fun, but
focus no attention to winning games and do not keep track of scores.
