Information to get you started
6u practice is 45 minutes - at least for the first couple of practices. If in a couple of weeks your team is able to handle the 60 minutes please feel free to shift to 60 minutes.
Information from our director to get you started with your first practice!
Lesson Plans Week #1
Note From Director:
US
Soccer and the coaching courses are now asking coaches to follow a Play,
Activity, Play format to your training sessions.
When players arrive you get
them into a small sided game. It can be a 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or 4v4 game. During
this time you can add coaching point or ask questions to the players about your
topic. After 10-15 minutes of playing you will go into your activity that is
designed around your topic. You can have two activities or a progression to
your activity that makes it more difficult for the players. This activity
should last 15-20 minutes. You will then finish with the players playing again.
For younger players I would go back to small sided and for older players you
could move into 6v6 or more. During this time you again want to give feedback
and ask questions to your players bringing out your topic.
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The focus for the 6U age group is building confidence on the ball. During your training sessions you want to make sure that every player has a ball. Player should be given the opportunity to get lots of touches and work on dribbling the ball. Some of these activities you can have goals involve where the players can shoot at the end. Training sessions at this level should never include passing and receiving. These players are too young to understand how or why they should work with another player. To these kids the ball is a toy and they all want to play with the toy not share it.
You can access the rules for 6U here or to the left sidebar of this post. At this age we do not have the players take goal kicks, corners or throw ins. When the ball goes out of bounds we ask the coaches to quickly get a new ball on the field. Coaches should be ready with extra balls on sideline waiting to roll a new ball back in. This speeds up the game and gives the players many more touches during the game. This improves player development which is the main focus of the program.
6U Points to keep in mind:
• Players are “ME” oriented
• No sense of pace
• Emphasis on motor development skills
• One task at a time, simple rules
• Easy fatigue and rapid recovery
• Need generous praise
• Catch them being good!
When using the coaching points in your session do not try
and cover them all in one session. You are working with young players so you
want to use two or three coaching points per session so the remember them and
keep your wording simple and to the point. Do not stop a session for more than
20-30 seconds to make a correction and use the “sandwich” technique. (A positive, the correction, another positive)
I look forward to meeting all of you and getting a chance to work with you and the kids. I appreciate the time and effort you all put in to the CSA recreational program. If you ever have any questions or concerns please reach out to me anytime.
rschwartz@charlottesocceracademy.com
Information for the upcoming week:
- Game schedules will be posted by Thursday before the first game day. Your patience is appreciated.
- If you are still waiting for your ID badge, team WHITE practice tshirts or new coach shirt, make sure you stop by the CSA desk on your game day to check in with us.
- Remember the fields are SNACK FREE for practices and games. Water and sports drinks are fine.
- CSA needs all coaches (including assistant coaches) to look professional at the fields. If you have been given a CSA shirt, you need to wear that to training and games. For coaches who do not have a CSA shirt please wear “soccer clothes”, (shorts and a t-shirt). Sports bras should not be visible.
Lesson Plans Week #2
Please continue to get 6U players comfortable on the ball. You can play tag games where players dribble in an area and the coach tags a player they do 5 toe touches before they get back into game. You can have the players tag as a progression. Next game you can have two players hold a ball in hands. They chase the players and try and tag them with the ball. If they tag a player they put the ball down and dribble. The player tagged picks ball up and does the tagging. You also have games like sharks or have the players act like any animal (frog, bunny) and they have to knock ball out of area. Make sure players are not out for the entire game. Have them do something and then allow them back in.
If you need more ideas or have questions on the ideas above, please contact me. Hope everyone enjoys the week of training. See you at the fields.
Lesson Plans Week #3
As we continually mention, the 6U age group focus is confidence on the ball, dribbling AND having FUN!
1. Pretend to be… (As they dribble ask the players to be…)
a. An Animal
b. A car
c. Players choice
2. Red Light/Green Light
a. Players are asked to start and stop while dribbling
b. Use hand gestures to start and stop the players
c. “ZOOM”
3. Knockout played in a confined area. Players try to knock the other players ball
out.
a. If the players catches up to ball before the ball stops he/she can come
right back in.
b. If the ball stops, the player does a task or skill with the ball and the
player re-enters the game.
4. 1 vs. 1 to Goal
a. Have players point in the direction they will attach
b. Coach tosses ball out and the players go at it.
c. Vary serves so each player gets a chance or to challenge a stronger player
5. The Game, 3 vs. 3
Have a scrimmage and use the game as the teacher!
Lesson Plans Week #4
For 6U it is best to
continue to use activities that allow the players to become comfortable on the
ball. Please have each player on a ball and focus on dribbling activities
- Everybody’s It. how many times can you tag some one the a) back b) shoulder?
- Noodle Tag. Coach tries to tag players with a pool noodle while they dribble a ball.
- Moving Goal. Parents act as the moving goal while holding the noodle high enough so that the players can dribble underneath the goal.
- Pirates. Coach (Black Beard) disperses cones (gold) around area for his pirates to collect. How many can the pirates collect?
Lesson Plans Week #5
For
the young players I like the game where players hunt the other players and try
and pass the ball into the other players. I also like the Easter egg hunt game,
which allows players to shoot while working on the push, pass techniques. As
you move into the older players you just want to create activities that allow
players to get repetition in passing or receiving. I also like to play numbers
up games that allow the players to see the advantage of passing the ball.
Link to Egg Hunt diagram CLICK HERE
Link to Hot Potato diagram CLICK HERE
Lesson Plans Week #6
US Soccer has done a fabulous job of putting dribbling drills together for the U6 age group. this week, please reference their document for drills. Find time toward the end of the session to use the game as the teacher and let them practice playing.
Lesson Plans Week #7
While the focus of the 6U program is to work on dribbling, we do want to briefly address shooting. Shooting
at the 6U age group is about finishing from a short distance. You do not see
shots from distance so the focus is on inside of foot finish.
These are coaching points geared toward an older player but they can be modified for younger players.
Coaching Points for Shooting:
- Approach the ball at a slight (30%) angle
- Planting foot a comfortable distance from the ball (balance)
- Planting foot should point to target
- Toe Down-Ankle Locked (U6-Toe up and ankle locked on the shooting foot)
- Strike the ball with the instep or laces of the foot (U6-Inside of foot)
- Strike the middle of the ball
- Follow through and land on shooting foot
Younger players can sometimes have coordination and balance issues. US Soccer has several great drills to work on those skills, which will also help while learning to shoot the ball. These drills will also continue the focus on dribbling.
Lesson Plans Week #8
As we wrap up the season with the final week of practice, feel free to incorporate
any activities or drills that you found worked for your team.
Coach Freeze Tag: All players with the ball dribbling in the grid. When tagged by the coach, players freeze with their legs apart. Frozen players can resume dribbling when a teammate passes a ball between their legs. (Variation- unfreeze by counting to an established number)
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