Author: Brad Carlson

Brad has coached a variety of sports in the community, middle school, and high school for 40 years including coaching the MN 2021 Class A State High School Champion.  He has coached soccer from U6 at the recreational level to U19 at the club level and all age groups at the high school level, including 11 years as a head coach.  He holds a USSF "B" coaching license and USC diplomas.

Coaching Children Ages U6/U8 – Part 2

This is the second in a three-part series on coaching children at this young age.  Look back to the previous month to view the first part.

Introduction

Children at these ages are being introduced to just how much FUN it is to play soccer.  By providing a safe and fun environment you can ensure a positive experience for the children.

You are coaching because you care for children.  You may not even know much about soccer (well, not yet anyway), and that is OK!  What you bring to the soccer field as their coach is your personality!  Your enthusiasm for them will show through any misgivings you might have about your soccer coaching abilities.  Remember that these children may not remember what you teach them about soccer, but they will always remember how you make them feel.

Games, games and more games!

The children love to play games.  As they arrive at the field have them immediately engage in some type of game. 

  • For younger children, it could be something like “Beehive” where they can show you their totally awesome dribbling skills. 
  • For older children, it could be starting out with the first two players arriving playing a little 1v1 game.  Then when more players arrive, they are added to the game up to 3v3.  Then start another game so everyone is playing in a “small sided” game (SSG).
  • Small sided games work best for all ages.  You want the children to get the most possible touches on the ball.  Keep your small sided games to no more than 4v4 if you can.
  • At these ages, there are no goalkeepers.  Everyone is to play as a field player without using their hands.
  • Check out the many games available on the MOTI app.  These are all age-appropriate for your team.
  • Your club or organization may or may not have a “league” schedule for you to play against other teams.  If they do, remember that no score is to be kept (although the kids will all know it :).  Be careful as a coach that you do not get caught up in wins and losses.  Begin your training now to be a much bigger and better coach than that.  Look for small victories within the games and train your parents to also look for small victories.  There is nothing more a child wants to hear from their coach or parent than these little 5 words, “I love watching you play.” (John O’Sullivan, Changing the game in youth sport) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXw0XGOVQvw

Soccer Skills

One of your responsibilities as a coach is to help each child have fun.  A large part of having fun for a child is experiencing success.  You can help them experience success on the soccer field by helping them discover some of the basic tried and true soccer skills.

At these ages, there are about a half dozen ball control and dribbling skills and one very important passing skill for them to discover and have success doing.  You can help them learn these skills by using the MOTI App either at practice or at home (if their parent will download the free app).

Every practice you should plan on having a game where the children are given a chance to show you how great they are getting at learning their soccer skills.  Lots of praise and encouragement is in store for them, especially when you see them execute one of these skills in a game situation under pressure.

This is what makes coaching so much fun!  When you see something you worked on in practice being executed by a child in a game situation, you know that you are doing your job.  That is when you get excited as a coach.

Next month we will discuss passing at this young age and behavior issues that may arise.

Learn about Coaching U10 players here

Do you believe in Miracles? YES!

40 years ago, Al Michaels gave us this unforgettable call in the final seconds of the USA / Soviet Union Olympic Hockey Game.  Sports Illustrated named the “Miracle on Ice” the top sports moment of the 20th century.

In celebration of the 40th anniversary, our local sports stations have interviewed several players from that Gold Medal-winning USA Olympic team.  Recently I heard an interview with Rob McClanahan.  What I found of interest was what he said about his personal preparation for the August USA tryouts.

Rob was a former player of Head Coach Herb Brooks at the University of Minnesota.  He knew that for him to make the USA Olympic Team though he would have to elevate his game far beyond what it had been in college.  He said that he spent the summer lifting weights 3 times a week, doing dryland training 5 times a week, and shooting the puck 200 times a day.

Repetition

Sir Alex Ferguson, legendary Manchester United coach and soccer genius, writes in his autobiography:

“Good coaching relies on repetition.  Forget all the nonsense about training programs to keep players happy.  The argument that they must be stimulated by constant variety may come across as progressive or enlightened, but it is a dangerous evasion of priorities.  In any physical activity, the effective practice requires repeated execution of the skill involved.  Why do you think the greatest golfers who have every lived devoted endless hours to striking the same shots over and over again?  Yes, I know golf, where the ball always sits to be struck, is so different from football that technical comparisons are foolish.  But the link is the need to concentrate on refining technique to the point where difficult skills become a matter of habit.

. . . David Beckham is Britain’s finest striker of a football not because of God-given talent but because he practices with a relentless application that the vast majority of less gifted players wouldn’t contemplate.  The practice may not make you perfect, but it will definitely make you better and any player working with me on the training ground will hear me preach the virtues of repetition – repeatedly.”[1]

 Sir Alex Ferguson preached it; Rob McClanahan practiced it.  And the lesson is as old as time.

“We are what we repeatedly do.”  Aristotle

Let MOTI help your players and students learn the correct soccer skills and tactics.

[1] Alex Ferguson with Much McIlvanney, Managing My Live:  My Autobiography, (Coronet Books:  London), 2000, p. 137

Coaching Children Ages U6/U8 – Part 1

This is the first in a three-part series on coaching children at this young age.

Introduction

Children at these ages are being introduced to just how much FUN it is to play soccer.  By providing a safe and fun environment you can ensure a positive experience for the children.

You are coaching because you care for children.  You may not even know much about soccer (well, not yet anyway), and that is OK!  What you bring to the soccer field as their coach is your personality!  Your enthusiasm for them will show through any misgivings you might have about your soccer coaching abilities.  Consider this:  these children may not remember what you teach them about soccer, but they will always remember how you make them feel.

Preparing Your Team

Help your team (and their parents) come prepared for practices.

  • Make sure everyone has a soccer ball.  They should all be bringing a size 3 soccer ball to practice (size 4 is used for 8-12-year old’s, size 5 for 13 and up).  You will notice that they may be very possessive about “their” ball.  For that reason, we will play games where they get to play with their own ball a lot.
  • Players MUST wear shin guards at every practice and in every game.
  • Cleats are not necessary.
  • Have children bring their own water bottle or drink to practice.  No sharing of water bottles or team water bottles for health reasons.
  • Your club or organization may provide you with some extra soccer balls, cones, and perhaps training vests (pinnies).  You can use the cones for goals if needed.
  • Once you hand out their uniforms you will find that they love to wear them to every practice!  That is awesome.  They all want to be a part of the team.
  • Find a “Team Manager” to help you with communications throughout the season, providing refreshments during breaks (like fresh fruit), and helping the parents to get to know each other.

Let’s Talk Practices

The key to running a fun and successful practice is to make it FUN!  Soccer is one of the easiest sports to make fun for children to play in.  Here are a few helpful suggestions.

  • Keep your practices to no more than 60 minutes.  Even at that, you will be experiencing short attention spans.
  • Start your season talking about your team name.  Come up with a team cheer.  Have some fun with these moments.
  • When you talk with children, make sure you get down to their level so they can look you right in the eyes.  If you are outside, you should face the sun.  These tips help them concentrate on you.
  • It is more fun for everyone to be playing at the same time.  That is why we discourage contests and games where the children stand in lines and must wait to participate.
  • Be positive in your approach to coaching these children.  Give them lots of praise when you see them having a good touch or a good thought.  Sometimes they have a good thought, but their execution is poor.  Rather than criticize them for their poor execution, praise them for their good though and attempt.
  • If you notice a specific child having a hard time with skill, at this age it is better to address the whole group rather than single out the individual child.
  • Ask guiding questions rather than giving them specific answers.  For example, help them to figure out why it is better to pass using the inside of their foot rather than their toe.  You can even come up with catchy phrases like “say NO to the toe.”
  • Children at this age do not need to warm up and stretch.  They are born ready to play, so let them play!  There is no need to make them run laps or do sprints unless you want them to run to their water bottle which they will gladly do!
  • There is, however, research that suggests most injuries to children playing soccer at this age occur to their upper limbs.  FIFA 11+ Kids has developed a warm-up procedure for this age group which improves dynamic balance and agility skills.  You can download a poster with several easy to do exercises to help young children with their balance, agility and learning how to fall.
  • Less talk and more play are always a good strategy.  Get them moving.  Try and wear them out with fun activities and games.
  • Plan your practices ahead of time.  Come prepared with more fun games for them to play than you think they can play in 60 minutes.
  • If you find that a game you are playing is too difficult or the kids are just not into it, then skip it and move on to the next one.  Find something that they will get engaged with and have fun doing.

Next month we will talk about what type of content to include in your practices.  This will be FUN!

View part 2 of this Article on Coaching Children here

New to Coaching? What to focus on.

You just got talked into coaching your first soccer team.  CONGRATULATIONS! 

Here are FIVE tried and true suggestions for you.

Be Positive

If you want players to come to practice, respect you, have their parent’s respect you, the other coaches respect you, and – yes – even the referees respect you . . . be positive.  Look for little “victories” with each player and compliment them when they succeed.  Success breeds success.  Sarcasm and negativity will tear a player down rather than build them up.

Make Practice Fun

Kids love to play soccer.  That is why they signed up.  But for many of them they may have the idea that practice is not fun (which they probably got from practicing another sport :).  NOT SOCCER!  Make practice fun by planning your time together, make sure everyone has a ball, engaging them immediately when they arrive, play a lot of games and work in the skill work within the games, and build them up when they think or do good things.

Rotate Players Through All Positions

Your season is just a small slice of your players soccer life.  Who knows where this adventure might lead them?  The more experience you can give them playing a variety of positions will help them develop into well rounded soccer players.  Remember though to put players into positions where they can be successful.  For example, if a player is still struggling when put under pressure then put them in a position on the field where they will be under less pressure – for example as an out back, outside midfielder or outside forward.  That is not a negative on the player, it is just good coaching.

Play Players Equal Time

Whether your team is recreational or competitive, all players and their families chose to participate so that they could play in the games.  Let them all play and keep to as close to equal playing time as you can.

When To Coach And When to Watch

Good coaches use their training time to coach, helping their players discover the game.  Success in practice leads to success in the games.  The biggest joy you can have as a coach is when you see a player execute in the game something that you just practiced.  And when you see THAT, you let the player (and the teammates) know it by building them up.  Coach during the practices, watch and build up during the games when you see good thoughts and good execution of what you practiced.

Now the great adventure begins!  Have fun and enjoy the season.

Physical Ed Teachers, MOTI is for you!

A soccer module is being taught in elementary and middle school for at least one two-week session, and often two separate two weeks sessions every year.  What if these teachers, most of whom are not proficient at soccer, are given the tools to present to their students an all-encompassing soccer unit with measurable standards!

We have developed, with the help of Physical Education Teachers and experts in the education field, a great tool for teachers to use in their classrooms that is flexible, inexpensive, fun for the kids, and produces measurable results.

The MOTI One Teacher Soccer App For Educators has been designed specifically for the “new to the game” Physical Education Teacher.  The concept is simple – let the kids play while also learning the proper age appropriate technical skills to allow them to be successful while playing.

By incorporating a study done by Weidong Li, Fatih Dervent & Xiuye Xie (2018) on “Soccer Techniques and Tactics for Third through Eighth Grade Students in Physical Education”, “Effective Classroom Management in Physical Education: Strategies for Beginning Teachers” by Grub, Ryan, Lowell and Stringer, Power Standards and Lesson Plans we have designed an App that, when shown to the students will teach them the proper soccer techniques.

The App allows the teacher to show the students the soccer skills for that day, listen to the expert coaching points in English or Spanish that go along with the skill, and try it right there with a soccer ball.  The players achieve instant success by seeing, hearing and doing the skill.  Then they take their newly acquired soccer skill on to the playing field to work it out in a series of small sided games. 

The teacher is given a suggested area set up for small sided games and skill work, done in such a way that everyone is active.  The Lesson Plan for the day outlines the complete time spent with the students including Safety, Equipment, Set Up, Power Standards, Learning Targets, Success Criteria and much more!

Check it out for FREE.  Download the MOTI Soccer App for FREE at your Apple App Store or Google Play Store and start your FREE Trial today!

Where are the skills?

Have you watched a youth soccer practice or asked your 5th grader about their soccer unit for gym class lately?  What are your observations?

I have, and as a lifelong soccer coach it scares me.  What I have been seeing in the classroom and on the soccer field is an emphasis on playing games at the expense of time spent on individual skills.

Now we all know that the kids, when asked what they want to do, will say enthusiastically “PLAY.”  Not surprising is it.  Playing is FUN, and that is why soccer is such a success with youth in and out of the classroom.

As I survey the soccer landscape for U10 and above (3rd through 8th grade) I am encouraged by the standards that are set for our Physical Education teachers while being equally discouraged by the standards seemingly set by our own soccer governing body in the USA – the USSF.  Let me explain my observations.

In education, the teacher is required to present a comprehensive lesson plan for each gym class module they teach.  Daily the teacher must prepare a learning plan which includes, but is not limited to, the following:  safety and equipment checks, integration of other core academic areas into the PE class, plan your time together to encourage engagement, prepare warm up and cool down activities, a presentation of basic skills and strategies, structured time for grouping students into teams to work out their basic skills and strategies, check for understanding and correct misunderstandings, and offer closure by reviewing key concepts and points.

WOW!  For me that sounds like a very well thought out soccer training session.  That was also the method I was taught to use when taking my USSF and USC coaching and diploma courses.  The problem is though, that most PE teachers are not versed in basic soccer skills.  So they will gloss over the presentation of basic skills and strategies and move right into playing games – which the students love!  The teacher is happy because the students are happy and they have a lesson plan that addresses most of the items they are asked to address.

In USSF driven soccer, the coach is being asked to take some educational courses which is good.  But the reality is that only those who have “heard the call” to coach soccer are driven enough to take the courses.  The course offerings now have also glossed over the presentation of basic skills in favor of a system where the players will (it is hoped) become well versed in the skills needed to succeed in the game simply by playing the game.

Where are they?  Where are the basic skills taught these days to our young soccer players?

Basic soccer skills is the cornerstone of MOTI.  Seeing the disconnect in education, we have developed a comprehensive soccer unit for Physical Education teachers.  Our Teacher App fills in the gap in their lesson plan by providing age appropriate skills that can easily be taught by even the novice PE teacher using visual and auditory aids.  Seeing the disconnect in USSF and their Play-Practice-Play model, we have incorporated age appropriate skills into their Play-Practice-Play practice plans.  All of this was done by Alan Merrick himself, so you can trust the content and the motivation.

And for those “new to the game” parent coaches, we have a wide variety of story book games for the younger players to advanced rondos and small sided games for the older players.  All designed to work with our basic skill techniques.

Where are they?  Where are the basic skills taught these days to our young soccer players?

They are here!

Kindergarten Cop and Coaching

There is an old Arnold Schwarzenegger film called “Kindergarten Cop.”  In it, Arnold becomes a substitute kindergarten teacher who barely made it through the first day!  He felt totally overwhelmed and under prepared.

That is how many of us begin our coaching careers – feeling overwhelmed and under prepared.  That anxiety can lead to fear, even before you take the field for the first time with your team. 

“It’s OKAY to be scared. Being scared means you’re about to do something really, really brave.”  Mandy Hale

I am here to tell you that you need not fear! You, because you have volunteered, already possess the most important characteristic of a great coach . . . LOVE!  There is no fear in love.

It is your love for the kids that has driven you to coach, and it is your love for the kids that will drive you to become the best coach you can be.

“To make a difference in someone’s life you don’t have to be brilliant, rich, beautiful, or perfect.  You just have to care.”  Mandy Hale

Now the great adventure begins.  Increase your base of knowledge, and not just about soccer.  Get to know your players and their parents.  Do a little research on how to teach kids at the age group you are coaching.  Consider bringing into your time with the players some of the core values that will help them develop as young persons.  You are the teacher.  Soccer is the vehicle.  Make your time with the kids count for more than just playing a game.

The parents will immediately pick up on your heart for their children.  It is exactly what we, as parents, are looking for in our teachers and coaches – someone who cares about the development of our children as much as we do.  You need not fear the parents for they know your heart lies with the positive development of their child.

And it gets even better!  Think outside the box a bit and try to have something a little crazy and fun at each practice.  Have you ever played Super Soaker Soccer?  It’s the best way to end a practice when it is really hot out.

So let your imagination go!  Be creative.  Learn.  Teach.  Love.  And hey, have some fun out there!

First Touch Is Still King

Jϋrgen Klopp is a hot commodity these days.  You see him interviewed all over the internet.  He is a great interview, loves the camera and most importantly has some excellent advice for us novice coaches.

He was asked to give some advice to players and coaches.  Here is what he said, “The more you do with the ball – the more you play with the ball – the better you will get.  Nobody should think that any world class player recognized when he was 10 (years old) ‘there’s a ball.’  That makes it quite easy then for youth coaches, because we have to start with technical things . . . The first touch for example.  (If) the first touch is perfect – and everyone can train the first touch – then you have time to see what’s around you.  If you take 5 seconds to control this thing of leather (the ball) then everything has changed around you.”[i]

 I am a High School Boys Coach.  Our season is just beginning.  We have a mix of 9-12 grades with skill levels varying from “premier” club players to “I haven’t played since I was 8 years old.”  So where do I start?

I pair up my seniors with my freshmen and juniors with my sophomores.  Everyone has a ball.  And we begin – simply – on controlling the ball.  I yell out, “4 touch lateral motion” and they execute it.  The freshmen may not know it, but the seniors do and they teach the freshmen.  “Drag back turn.”  “Outside hook turn.”  And on we go.

This year I tried something a bit different.  Two weeks before training began I sent all of the players (or their parents for the incoming freshmen) an invitation to download the MOTI app with the foundation, advanced and premier soccer skills preloaded for them to view and work on at home.  I sent them an email to encourage them to check out the skills on the app and practice them before our training began because we would be working on them all season.

On the first day of training, at the first practice I pulled out my cell phone, talked about the MOTI App they all were invited to join and started calling out skills.  “Dribble at your partner.  Now show me your drag back turn with your right foot and dribble away.  Again, this time show me your drag back turn with your left foot.”  On we went.  Right through the foundation skills.

The next day we started the same way.  We went over the foundation skills and then added some of the advanced skills.  By the end of the week all of the foundation, advanced and premier dribbling and passing skills had been introduced and practice in a fun way with the novice players learning not only from the App but also from the veteran players.  Great skills.  Great team building.

Now here is the clincher.  I took a look at the analytics before the first practice.  Less than 20% of the team had looked at the skills on the App, and those were primarily my captains, coaches and senior leaders.  At the end of the week almost 80% had viewed the skills on the App.  Then I looked at the number of uses.  They guys who were really trying to make varsity had a ton of uses.  They guys who really didn’t care that much about making the varsity but just wanted to be a part of the program – at least for this season – not so many views.  And the non viewers where mostly the freshmen who did not have the invitation sent directly to them but to their parents!  Hum.

It shows on the field too.  Just like Jϋrgen said, it is all about the first touch.  Now my players have another tool to help them improve their first touch and I have another tool to help me evaluate my players desire to play at the highest level in my program.

[i] Soccer.com (2017) Jϋrgen
Klopp shares his secrets to coaching success [Video] Retrieved August 21,
2019 from  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RENQCfI-EGg