SMALL SIDED GAMES

• Official Modified Under 12 Playing Rules
  (Although 11 a side play is permitted, US Youth Soccer strongly recommends the 8v8 Modified format.)
• U12 Rules Addendum
• U12 Appendix (Field of Play)
• (8v8 max)
• (8v8 min)
• Official Modified Under 10 Playing Rules
• U10 Rules Addendum
• U10 Appendix (Field of Play)
   
• Official Modified Under 8 Playing Rules
• U8 Rules Addendum
• U8 Appendix (100x50) (110x60) (120x70) (U8 Field of Play)
• Official Modified Under 6 Playing Rules
• U6 Rules Addendum
• U6 Appendix (100x50) (110x60) (120x70) (U6 Field of Play) (U6 Dual Field)
• FIFA Laws of the Game (Under-13 and Older)

Coaching Practice Methodology

                                                     “If you aren’t 15 minutes early, you are 15 minutes late”

        No-No’s

•      don’t allow your players to pick their own teams
  
•      false praise
  
•      prolonged stoppages
  
•      associating fitness with punishment
  
•      lines, laps, and drills
  
•      idle time

        Yesses

•       Incorporate games that players are already familiar with, into your training session
  
•       (playground games, physical education games, etc.)
  
•       Stretching, and selecting certain players to lead stretches, are chances to develop
  
•       leadership in your players
  
•       Do you refer to what you worked on in your last practice before your next game?
  
•       Pause for brief coaching messages
  
•       Coach the positive!
  
•       Encourage decision making and problem solving by allowing groups to “strategize” before
  
•       beginning and in between activities
  
•       Send them away with “soccer homework”

         Principles and Methodology of Coaching

        Developmentally appropriate

      Clear, concise, and correct information: Brevity – Clarity – Relevance
      Simple to complex: there should be a flow that is appropriate to the age of the players and
      the topic of the practice – in some instances this will proceed from a warm-up to individual
      activities to small group activities to large group activities (THE GAME) – While the
      progression may vary, every practice should start with a warm-up and end with “The Game."
     
        Designing a Training Session

      Helpful questions to ask yourself when planning a training session

•      Are the activities fun?
  
•      Are the activities organized?
  
•      Are all of the players involved in all of the activities?
  
•      Is creativity and decision making being used?
  
•      Are the spaces being used appropriate?
  
•      Is the coach’s feedback appropriate?
  
•      Are there implications for the game?
  
•      Are the players having fun?

        Variations, Restrictions, and Alterations to keep your players excited
        about training:

•       Number of balls
  
•       Number of teams (instead of the traditional 2 teams, why not play with three!)
  
•       Size of field (short in length and wide in width and vice versa)
  
•       Number of goals
  
•       Size of goals
  
•       Various ways of scoring a goal (passing, shooting, dribbling, etc.)
  
•       Size of balls
  
•       Touch restrictions (maximums and minimums)
  
• 
  
•         The Main Areas of a Practice Session

     Warm-up:
         Enthusiastically set the tone for fun.
     The warm-up prepares the mind and body for upcoming activities. Ball gymnastics greatly enhance
     motor skills (i.e. coordination, balance, agility, and flexibility).
         Young players need very little stretching, but it is a good habit for them to begin at an early age.
     Plan your warm-ups so that each player uses a ball. Incorporate games and exercises that
     emphasize a lot of touches and dribbling,
         If possible, use or create conditioning exercises that require the players to work with a ball rather
     than just running. The kids will have more fun and they will learn more soccer skills!
     Individual Activities:
         Fun-filled activities that emphasize technical development. "GAMES!" Remember this is the
     discovery age. Lots of contact with the ball.
         Activities should be appropriate for the skills you are teaching. Limit the number of activities in a
     given practice, and don’t spend too long on any one activity. Remember that a child’s attention
     span is limited!
     Group Activities:
         Group games are an extension of the individual activity. Groups are small to again allow for ball
     contacts. Activities should emphasize fun while challenging the players in a non-drill manner.
     Keep it varied and interesting with a minimum of oral instruction (don’t lecture!). Demonstrate as
     much as possible, if you feel uncomfortable demonstrating techniques, don’t hesitate to enlist your
     more skillful players, or perhaps older soccer players, to help you. Depending on the level you are
     coaching, junior high or high school players may be useful for this purpose.
          MAXIMIZE the number of touches for each player by running activities with several small groups at
     the same time; no child likes to stand in line waiting!
   "The Game":
         This portion of the practice session is designed to familiarize the players with the varying aspects of
     the game. Kids want to play and have fun. After a brief explanation and/or demonstration quickly
     get the players playing.
         Small-sided games (e.g. 4 v 4) are an excellent practice tool that help
     keep everyone involved and, by reducing the size of each playing field, you
     can have two games going at the same time. Activities should be
     organized to progress into controlled scrimmages (e.g. no shots until at
     least four consecutive passes have been made). Follow up a controlled
     scrimmage with an open scrimmage. Remember, the kids signed up to
     play soccer!
         Be prepared to change your plans! Weather, field conditions, the number
     of players who come to practice, can all affect your plans.
         Be flexible and adjust to conditions.
     You may also need to extend the time spent on a particular activity if the players are having
     difficulty acquiring a particular skill. If it is especially hot, allow for more frequent water breaks and
     reduce the physical intensity of practice.
 

What is Player Development?

     The game is already in each child; we as coaches need to create a game environment:

•      Activities that the child wants to participate in because they are fun.
  
•      Players being exposed to playing all positions.
  
•      Every player has a ball for practice.
  
•      Activities designed to maximize the number of touches by each player at practice.
  
•      Rules modified for players according to their age group characteristics.
  
•      Equipment modified for players according to their age group characteristics.
  
•      Activities designed to promote thinking, not doing drills.
  
•      De-emphasize winning/losing. We do not need to keep standings, statistics, etc.
  
•      Kids at the beginning of practice are waiting for the coach to tell them what to do. This is
       extremely negative. What we as coaches should be doing is creating an environment where
       the kids want play the game

     What a coach can do to create this environment at the beginning of practice:

•      As the first kids arrive at practice place 2 small goals so they can play 1 vs. 1.
  
•      As another child arrives have them jump in and make it 2 vs. 1.
  
•      Keep adjusting the field size as new players show until they are all playing a game.
  
•      Do this for about 15 minutes, and then begin practice.

docs/Recreational/U10Characteristics-Training.ppt

Recreational Soccer: Are the Kids Having Fun?
By: Jacob Daniel

     Coaching at the youth level, especially at the recreational level, can be summed up tongue-incheek
as grown-up structure on a collision course with youthful spontaneity. If you ask many
coaches, they will tell you of their constant battle to impose organization on a bunch of
exuberant carefree kids.

      Let us study the weapons used by both sides in this war on grass. The coaches arm themselves
with whistles. The kids, who, I am sure, would love to get their hands, or lips, on some of those,
tend to rely on their complete range of vocal chords. The coaches use line ups with boring,
repetitive drills. The kids use peer fighting, tickling, hair pulling, tears and a complete lack of
collinear principles. When the going gets tough, the coaches like to wear out the kids by
resorting to long team talks, lectures and dissertations. The kids, when cornered by lectures,
respond with short attention spans and perpetual motion techniques. The coaches, in an attempt
to convince the kids into believing that everyone is on the same side, initiate goal setting and
seasonal objectives. The kids, once they read through this tactical maneuver, revert to goal
climbing and seasonal objections.
      Who am I rooting for in this inter-generation conflict? For the kids of course!! Call me a traitor,
but I am on the side of playful abandon.
Seriously, when one considers the amount of structure disciplined organization inflicted on our
kids in school and at home, one appreciates the need to balance it out with periods of play and
fun activities without regard for results, provided, of course, that child safety is not sacrificed.
Allow me to relate to you some real life examples:
HOW COULD YOU LET ME DOWN LIKE THIS?
In one 3v3 game between two U-6 teams, I witnessed a mother running onto the field to scream
at her child and spank him on his derriere for scoring on his own goal (the poor child lost his
orientation for a moment, dribbled towards his team’s net and scored a beautiful own goal).
MY CHILD WILL GO ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP!
I frequently get inquiries from parents who are looking for a trainer for their child as a form of
“individual soccer tutoring”. In some cases, getting a trainer is not a bad idea. But when a
parent wants to find out what his/her seven year old child’s weaknesses are so that the child can
work to improve on these weaknesses, I tell him/her that seven year olds have not lived on this
planet long enough to develop strengths and weaknesses. Does the parent of a grade 1 student
ask the teacher what weaknesses should he/she work on to enable his/her child to become a
lawyer??? A seven year old child should play soccer for one purpose and one purpose only: to
have fun!
      At this point, most of you reading this article are probably saying to yourselves that the above
examples are but extreme cases of overzealous parents whose behavior does not resemble yours.
I hope so. But below this extreme level of unrealistic parental expectations exists a multitude of
more subtle examples of misplaced priorities of well meaning but misguided coaches and
parents. Read on.
POST GAME INQUEST.
      Your nine year old son plays goalkeeper and has just conceded a soft goal with two minutes left
in the game, which caused your team to lose 2:1. On the drive home, you can’t help yourself and
start dissecting the play that let to the goal. You are extra careful to sound calm, friendly and not
accusing. After all, you are merely trying to help your son learn from the experience, learn from
his mistakes. Your son bursts out crying and says: “I don’t want to talk about it!” I am no child
psychologist, but the above incident suggests to me that this keeper is under too much pressure to
perform and is not enjoying himself.
ORGANIZED CHAOS.
      Some coaches, when they want their teams to work on passing, use drills with line ups similar to
this one: They place their players in two parallel lines about ten yards apart. The two players in
front of the two lines move up the field inter-passing the ball while all the other players watch
and wait for their turn. In one such practice session that I observed, each player touched the ball
about once every four minutes. Suggestion: Why not give one ball to each pair and let all the
pairs simultaneously inter-pass while moving randomly in a large area. Some coaches do not
like this suggestion because it’s too messy – balls flying all over the place, players bumping into
teach other, balls hitting the wrong players (sounds much like the real game, doesn’t it?)
My point is that at the recreational level, the game is kind of messy and the suggestion
mentioned above is a lot more game-like than standing idle in a line waiting for your turn, and
then, when your turn comes, passing the ball while running in a straight line.
PLAY YOUR POSITIONS AND DON’T BUNCH UP!!
      We have all seen the ‘swarm’. Six year olds all bunching up on the ball. We have all screamed
at them: spread out! Play your position!! Now, if I was a six year old, I would also go after the
ball and disregard my position. After all, the ball is always up for grabs. Nobody really has any
control over it. Does anybody really expect me to believe that my six year old team mate is
going to control the ball, look up to see me on the other side of the field and switch play by
placing a 30-40 yard pass to my feet?? There is no point in worrying about positions if your
players have not yet mastered the technique of passing the ball under pressure. Let the swarm
be. You cannot artificially speed up the learning process. It’s for this reason that modified
soccer and 3-a-side soccer exists: to reduce the size of the swarm, because you cannot eliminate
it before its time.
      In closing, I do believe that the coaches at the recreational level are getting better all the time.
There are many coaches and parents who are in sync with the sensitivities and needs of their
kids. I hope that through the coaching courses and clinics, we can get more coaches to stop and
ask themselves: Are the kids having FUN?