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footy4kids recommends:
For new coaches:
For experienced coaches:
For coaches who are short on time:
For coaches of kids aged 5-8:
For coaches of kids aged 9-11:
For coaches of kids aged 12-15:
For coaches of small-sided teams:
For coaches who need warm-ups:
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Balls, cones and kids
the footy4kids soccer coaching
newsletter
Issue 29 - August 2007
This time
of year many of us are attending league fixture meetings, submitting
registration forms and generally getting involved in the usual pre-season
paperwork chase.
But do you ever stop to wonder why you're entering your
team into a league?
If they're aged 10 or over it could be because they enjoy
playing against different players every week.
But if they are younger than that, do you think they
really care if they play football for points or just for fun?
Could they be just as happy (or happier) if they were all
fully involved playing in-house tournaments on a Saturday morning rather
than standing shivering on the touchline, waiting to go on so they can be
shouted at by over eager parents? Or maybe not even getting on at all
("it's 1-0 to us with five minutes to go, I can't risk changing the team
now, sorry").
It's even been suggested that some youth soccer teams are
only in local leagues because their coach/manager wants to win something
he (or she) didn't win for themselves when they were younger.
And some teams play in leagues simply because they don't
know that there are alternatives.
Now Paul Cooper of Give Us Back Our Game has produced an
alternative match day programme for youth soccer clubs.
It's worth considering - would your players like to play
all the time, get lots of touches and score goals in a pressure free
environment? Or would they prefer to play for points in a traditional
league and spend most of the day travelling to/from grounds, standing
around and getting told to 'get stuck in!' ?
an alternative match day
programme for youth soccer teams
by Paul Cooper of
Give Us
Back Our Game
The current match day programmes have not always been
working in the best interest of children, especially the younger ones.
There is at present little choice and as early as U7s,
coaches are sucked into a competitive environment which makes it difficult
to cope with and let all the children play as well as keeping parents happy.
So what are the needs of the children for a match day
programme?
- Games that are fun
- Games that are both
player and child centred
- Every child plays for
every minute (NO SUBS!)
- A chance for children
to put on a kit and be part of a team
- Lots of touches of the
ball
- Lots of goals
U6/7s/8s Match Day Programme
In house/friendlies/festival fun days
This is the age group where there are most problems, as
there are large numbers of children who join a club, but due to the rigid
structure of the leagues many children do not get into the teams.
Also many parents are not prepared at this early stage
to commit to being a coach responsible for a team, but may be interested in
helping as a facilitator in an in house situation.
- 4v4 where possible,
but most important is that every child plays for every minute, so 3v4, 4v5
also
- Play round robin games
- Select roughly even
sides
- 8-10 minute games (5-6
games) on a round robin basis
- Children referee
themselves (with an adult pitch organiser on the side)
- Different coloured
kits or World Cup t-shirts
- Rolling Game (for the
U6s
http://www.giveusbackourgame.co.uk/4v4-games-rolling-game.php )
- Standard Game for the
U7s
- Standard Game and Four
Goal Game for the U8s
- Keepers Optional
U9/U10s Match Day Programme
Friendly League with points awarded for fair play.
- 4v4, 5v5, 6v6 (variety
is good for the children)
- All children play
every minute, so coaches let each other know how many they have in their
squad e.g. Team A has 9 players & Team B has 13 players. 2 x 4v4 games and
1 x mixed 3v3 game. The players in the 3v3 game rotate with the players on
the 2 main games
- 10 minute games (6
games in total) this allows for players to be rotated around the teams
- Children referee
themselves (with an adult pitch organiser on the side)
- Standard Game, Four
Goal Game, Line Ball Game
- Keepers optional
U11/U12s Match Day Programme
Friendly League with points awarded for fair play.
- 8v8 or 9v9
- Sub games on the side,
which players on the main games rotate from
- Standard Game
- Referee
- 3 sections of 20
minutes
U13s+ Match Day Programme
Leagues, 3 points for a win etc
- 11v11
- Standard Game
- Referee
We would also like to see more 4v4 fun days during
times that club games are not being played.
We believe the above formats
would be more beneficial for children in terns of fun and development. It
still allows for a match day environment but one in which every child is
catered for.
This is at present just a
proposal and we really would like your feedback as to what you feel is best
for our children.
Look forward to hearing from you
Paul Cooper
http://giveusbackourgame.co.uk
links
Hyped-up soccer parents taking fun out of the game
"Most coaches agree that packs of parents
hanging around on the sidelines puts too much pressure on young players"
In Youth Soccer,
Smaller is Better!
"It simply doesn't make
sense to ask young players to play the adult version of soccer"
The fun is gone, now
kids must learn to play games
"Sports
used to be a healthy pursuit for children, but have we turned it into a
harmful obsession?"
kids,
football and failure
why children want
to play soccer
street soccer or P.E lesson?
newsletter archive
soccer
coaching articles
how to coach
youth soccer
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