.gif){kind=spacer}
.gif){kind=spacer}
| Introduction |
Coaching Six-and-Under Soccer offers you straightforward instructional tools, including giggle-filled, reward-based games and drills; how to plan the first five practices and establishing beneficial routines; techniques for teaching skills such as dribbling, stopping the ball, passing, and juggling; and more. |
| About the book |
The only book to provide straightforward advice, tips, and techniques to the thousands of new parent/volunteer coaches who each year are charged with introducing the sport of soccer to preschoolers and kindergartners in school, club, and parks-and-recreation programs across the country. Of the dozens of books aimed at youth soccer coaches?including our own Coaching Youth Soccer: A Baffled Parent?s Guide, which is the market leader?not one is written specifically for those who need help most. This will be the first book for newly annointed coaches of 4 to 6-year-old players, who require a very different coaching approach. Parents, having discovered that soccer suits itself well to 4 and 5 year-olds, are increasingly enrolling their children in soccer programs as preschoolers, yet every book on coaching youth soccer is aimed at kids six years old and older. These older kids, with a year or two of school under their belts, are ready for the competition-themed drills and light-punishment-oriented discipline the books espouse, but the younger players are not. When coaching defense, if you kick the ball away from a 4- or 5-year-old player who is dribbling the ball, that player may very well collapse to the ground in tears. And the losing team in a ball-handling relay race may be inconsolable. These tots simply aren?t ready for the competitive aspects of game play that captivate older children and adults alike. Rather, they just want to have fun. |
| About the authors |
David Williams heads the four- and five-year-old division of the summer soccer camps sponsored by Fort Lewis College, in Durango, Colorado. Scott Graham is an author, journalist, father, and coach of young soccer players. |
| Table of contents |
Introduction About This Book 1. Coaching Young Players Is Different Steep Learning Curve Your Critical Role Keeping Fun Foremost The Sport of Choice 2. Fun-Focused Practices and Games Controlled Touching Simplicity Itself Too Easy? Competition Creativity and Positive Reinforcement Coed or Not Coed? 3. The Game of Soccer for Young Players Soccer for Young Players Academy Coaching Squad Assignments Continuing to Limit Player Numbers A 6-and-Under Soccer Primer Other Rules Fighting for Your Players 4. Off the Field Managing Parents' Expectations Delegating Parental Duties Recruiting a Parent Helper The End-of-Season Celebration Trophies 5. On the Field Your Players' Equipment Needs Your Equipment for Practices Your Equipment for Games Choosing a Team Name 6. Behavioral Challenges of Young Players Discipline 7. Game Day Gone in an Instant Little Learning Winning and Losing Game-Day Responsibilities Refereeing Who Won? 8. Basic Ball-Control Skills and the Red Light/Green Light Drill Why Red Light/Green Light? Mastering Several Basic Skills through One Drill Drill 1: Red Light/Green Light Basic Ball-Control Skills Skill 1: Dribbling with the Inside of the Foot and Stopping the Ball by Stepping on It Skill 2: Dribbling with Speed Skill 3: Changing Direction with the Inside of the Foot, or "Cutting" the Ball Skill 4: The Pull Turn Skill 5: Receiving the Ball Skill 6: Juggling the Ball 9. Eleven More Drills and Four More Skills Drill 2: Bulldozers and Builders Drill 3: Follow the Leader Drill 4: Switch Drill 5: Alligator Pit Drill 6: Trash Day Skill 7: Kicking with the Instep, or Shooting Drill 7: Elmer Fudd Drill 8: Star Wars Skill 8: Passing with the Inside of the Foot Drill 9: Crab Soccer Drill 10: Sharks and Minnows Drill 11: Steal the Bacon Skill 9: Receiving the Ball on the Ground Drill 12: Freeze Tag Skill 10: Shielding the Ball 10. Your First Six Practices Highly Structured Before Practice During Practice After Practice 4- and 5-Year-Old Practice Sessions First Six Practices for 4- and 5-Year-Olds Specifics for 5- and 6-Year-Old Practice Sessions First Six Practices for 5- and 6-Year-Olds After Your First Six Practices Parent/Player Scrimmages The End of the Season Appendix Skills Troubleshooting Chart Resources Index Acknowledgments About the Authors |
