should 8-year-olds be capable of focusing & following directions across a 45-minute practice?

[Anonymous]

I'm coaching a girls rec team composed mostly of 8-year-olds.

They are great kids, but sometimes the practices feel like herding cats.

For simple exercises, I can get them to focus -- for example, running down the field in pairs while passing back and forth.

But if we attempt something more complex -- say, a 4 vs 4 scrimmage -- order begins to break down after just a few minutes. There will be complaints about the team (a player might want to switch sides), complaints about wanting to switch positions (say, from goalie to forward), complaints that they are not receiving enough passes or getting enough touches on the ball, bursts of negative emotion and self-criticism ("I'm no good"; "everybody else on the team is better than me", "this game is unfair"), and, every now and then, a child will storm off the field with tears in her eyes.

What should I realistically expect from kids this age? Are the issues I am experiencing a reflection of poor coaching? Or is this a normal situation for a team of 8-year-olds? Or do I just happen to have a group of kids that are lagging behind other 8-year-olds in maturity?

Is a more forceful and strict coaching approach is required? I feel OK coming down hard on my own kids, but I'm uncomfortable acting like another kid's parent. But that seems to be what they need. They need me to lay down the law, and to make it absolutely clear that I won't accept any nonsense. But is this OK for such young kids? And in a rec league? I'm not sure.

Not that the team is very small and we lack subs during games, so I can't punish a problematic kid by making them ride the bench.

My daughter is on the team, and she follows directions perfectly, and can maintain focus not just for a 45 minute practice, but for much longer if necessary. I'd say about half the kids on the team are capable of this level of attentiveness and "professionalism" (for lack of a better word). But the other half seem to lack the necessary maturity.

Looking for any suggestions and feedback. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Some 8 year olds can, and certainly those who choose to do travel soccer can and are expected to do so. But in a rec league, not everyone takes it as seriously so may lack the focus. The other thing I would caution is that right now, specific to pandemic-times, I think kids in general may have a harder time focusing. For a lot of them, this may be their only SOCIAL outlet, so may be more likely to play around than focus. If that is the case, maybe try to have a bit of just unstructured playing around time at the beginning of practice when they can let off some steam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some 8 year olds can, and certainly those who choose to do travel soccer can and are expected to do so. But in a rec league, not everyone takes it as seriously so may lack the focus. The other thing I would caution is that right now, specific to pandemic-times, I think kids in general may have a harder time focusing. For a lot of them, this may be their only SOCIAL outlet, so may be more likely to play around than focus. If that is the case, maybe try to have a bit of just unstructured playing around time at the beginning of practice when they can let off some steam?

+1!
For sure it is the main social outlet and the kids are even enrolled specifically to have an outdoor social time for the week. Rec is for fun and social togetherness. In the academy league the kids are also getting out their pent up socializing needs. Otherwise at this age 45 is just about right for keeping attention if mixed with fun play. It won't always be perfect and you have to refocus them a lot but if you go in with that attitude it won't be stressful.

[Anonymous]

sounds normal to me

[Anonymous]

for some this is more social than anything else. They're 8 and its rec. Throw in the pandemic and this may be the only time they actually see other kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some 8 year olds can, and certainly those who choose to do travel soccer can and are expected to do so. But in a rec league, not everyone takes it as seriously so may lack the focus. The other thing I would caution is that right now, specific to pandemic-times, I think kids in general may have a harder time focusing. For a lot of them, this may be their only SOCIAL outlet, so may be more likely to play around than focus. If that is the case, maybe try to have a bit of just unstructured playing around time at the beginning of practice when they can let off some steam?

The bolded is a very good point. That said, my own kid is currently playing on a mixed team of 8 and 9 year olds, and the age difference is very apparent in their attention spans. The year makes more of a difference in their attention spans than I would have expected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm coaching a girls rec team composed mostly of 8-year-olds.

They are great kids, but sometimes the practices feel like herding cats.

For simple exercises, I can get them to focus -- for example, running down the field in pairs while passing back and forth.

But if we attempt something more complex -- say, a 4 vs 4 scrimmage -- order begins to break down after just a few minutes. There will be complaints about the team (a player might want to switch sides), complaints about wanting to switch positions (say, from goalie to forward), complaints that they are not receiving enough passes or getting enough touches on the ball, bursts of negative emotion and self-criticism ("I'm no good"; "everybody else on the team is better than me", "this game is unfair"), and, every now and then, a child will storm off the field with tears in her eyes.

What should I realistically expect from kids this age? Are the issues I am experiencing a reflection of poor coaching? Or is this a normal situation for a team of 8-year-olds? Or do I just happen to have a group of kids that are lagging behind other 8-year-olds in maturity?

Is a more forceful and strict coaching approach is required? I feel OK coming down hard on my own kids, but I'm uncomfortable acting like another kid's parent. But that seems to be what they need. They need me to lay down the law, and to make it absolutely clear that I won't accept any nonsense. But is this OK for such young kids? And in a rec league? I'm not sure.

Not that the team is very small and we lack subs during games, so I can't punish a problematic kid by making them ride the bench.

My daughter is on the team, and she follows directions perfectly, and can maintain focus not just for a 45 minute practice, but for much longer if necessary. I'd say about half the kids on the team are capable of this level of attentiveness and "professionalism" (for lack of a better word). But the other half seem to lack the necessary maturity.

Looking for any suggestions and feedback. Thanks.

I wouldn't suggest forcefulness or strictness - but "no nonsense" is fine. You definitely shouldn't be making anyone ride the bench at this age - any negative feedback needs to be much smaller than that and more immediate.

At this age I had a team that generally would pay attention but one or two were difficult. I would make it quite clear what we were doing and that those who wished to play would so so, and if anybody didn't they could sit on the side and rejoin when they wanted to. They usually didn't sit out for very long.

I generally found that if all the kids were acting up then I was either not planning enough different activities or I wasn't making them fun enough. I think I used to aim for at least 6-8 different drills/practices and nearly all of them were organized as some kind of game rather than just a drill. I know you say that you can keep the kids focused on the drill and it's the scrimmage that's the problem - but I'm guessing you are running the drills first and the girls are getting bored so that they are acting up when the scrimmage happens just because they've had enough by that time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm coaching a girls rec team composed mostly of 8-year-olds.

They are great kids, but sometimes the practices feel like herding cats.

For simple exercises, I can get them to focus -- for example, running down the field in pairs while passing back and forth.

But if we attempt something more complex -- say, a 4 vs 4 scrimmage -- order begins to break down after just a few minutes. There will be complaints about the team (a player might want to switch sides), complaints about wanting to switch positions (say, from goalie to forward), complaints that they are not receiving enough passes or getting enough touches on the ball, bursts of negative emotion and self-criticism ("I'm no good"; "everybody else on the team is better than me", "this game is unfair"), and, every now and then, a child will storm off the field with tears in her eyes.

What should I realistically expect from kids this age? Are the issues I am experiencing a reflection of poor coaching? Or is this a normal situation for a team of 8-year-olds? Or do I just happen to have a group of kids that are lagging behind other 8-year-olds in maturity?

Is a more forceful and strict coaching approach is required? I feel OK coming down hard on my own kids, but I'm uncomfortable acting like another kid's parent. But that seems to be what they need. They need me to lay down the law, and to make it absolutely clear that I won't accept any nonsense. But is this OK for such young kids? And in a rec league? I'm not sure.

Not that the team is very small and we lack subs during games, so I can't punish a problematic kid by making them ride the bench.

My daughter is on the team, and she follows directions perfectly, and can maintain focus not just for a 45 minute practice, but for much longer if necessary. I'd say about half the kids on the team are capable of this level of attentiveness and "professionalism" (for lack of a better word). But the other half seem to lack the necessary maturity.

Looking for any suggestions and feedback. Thanks.

I think you need to be somewhat more strict. Sounds like the kids are running the show, instead of the coach. My kid is six, if he or his team mates acted like this coach would pull them out of the practice for a moment and have a stern word or two about their behavior before sending them back in. They need to know that you are in charge. I am sure they do not behave like this in school, so they are capable of it.

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course they can focus and behave. See if you can bring in a coach who has some actual training and experience working with kids to help run a practice, the difference between your practice and theirs will blow your mind.

[Anonymous]

My DD is 8 and on a coed rec league. They all focus and no one seems to do the things you have mentioned. There is one boy who dances and doesn’t pay attention but there is no complaining about switching positions etc.

[Anonymous]

In rec its hit or miss but at most u9 travel clubs they are expected to stay focused. If not they are not asked back for u10.

[Anonymous]

No they can’t behave for 45 minutes.

But you can structure a practice that changes every 5-10 minutes with each child having many touches with the ball during that time snd the practice will work.

Are you a bad coach... no.
Are you a good coach ... no.

You should have a very specific plan laid out and it should be somewhat repeatable every practice so the kids understand what is expected.

You should use a timer, you should have multiple “stations”.

You need assistants.

You can find plans online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No they can’t behave for 45 minutes.

But you can structure a practice that changes every 5-10 minutes with each child having many touches with the ball during that time snd the practice will work.

Are you a bad coach... no.
Are you a good coach ... no.

You should have a very specific plan laid out and it should be somewhat repeatable every practice so the kids understand what is expected.

You should use a timer, you should have multiple “stations”.

You need assistants.

You can find plans online.

OP here. The practices go OK when I focus on simple individual skills and simple passing drills. But scrimmaging seems to result in chaos. Perhaps I should just forget about scrimmaging, or limit it to just the final 5 minutes.

In any case, I'll try to have better structure, and I'll see if a friend can come to assist me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No they can’t behave for 45 minutes.

But you can structure a practice that changes every 5-10 minutes with each child having many touches with the ball during that time snd the practice will work.

Are you a bad coach... no.
Are you a good coach ... no.

You should have a very specific plan laid out and it should be somewhat repeatable every practice so the kids understand what is expected.

You should use a timer, you should have multiple “stations”.

You need assistants.

You can find plans online.

OP here. The practices go OK when I focus on simple individual skills and simple passing drills. But scrimmaging seems to result in chaos. Perhaps I should just forget about scrimmaging, or limit it to just the final 5 minutes.

In any case, I'll try to have better structure, and I'll see if a friend can come to assist me.

At this age you should be doing small games- 3v3, sharks vs minnows, etc. If you scrimmage with more kids, kids who are not immediately involved get bored. Every kid should have a ball on their foot as much as possible....so no line with kids waiting to do a drill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No they can’t behave for 45 minutes.

But you can structure a practice that changes every 5-10 minutes with each child having many touches with the ball during that time snd the practice will work.

Are you a bad coach... no.
Are you a good coach ... no.

You should have a very specific plan laid out and it should be somewhat repeatable every practice so the kids understand what is expected.

You should use a timer, you should have multiple “stations”.

You need assistants.

You can find plans online.

OP here. The practices go OK when I focus on simple individual skills and simple passing drills. But scrimmaging seems to result in chaos. Perhaps I should just forget about scrimmaging, or limit it to just the final 5 minutes.

In any case, I'll try to have better structure, and I'll see if a friend can come to assist me.

At this age you should be doing small games- 3v3, sharks vs minnows, etc. If you scrimmage with more kids, kids who are not immediately involved get bored. Every kid should have a ball on their foot as much as possible....so no line with kids waiting to do a drill.

^^^ this

Also you need every kid involved so if you need to run 2 3v3's at a time, you need help.