Rules for young kids?

[Anonymous]

I wrote the post about coaching soccer for the first time. You all had great suggestions and I found some cute kid drills on YouTube.

I’m wondering if anyone could type out what kind of rules kids need to play by. I imagine it’s less complicated for young kids than for older ones. My kids will be 5-6 years old. The only rule I know is that you can’t use your hands unless you’re the goalie.

Thanks for the tips!

[Anonymous]

Probably pug nets and no goalies at that age. Equal playing time is important, it’s easiest to just make a substitution chart. Score isn’t kept, make sure that parents understand that and discourage them from doing it on their own

[Anonymous]

Always keep score that is important but also teach them sportsmanship not running the score up .teach them to win but challenge the
If they are up by 7 or more goals to pass and keep possession rather than run up the score

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Probably pug nets and no goalies at that age. Equal playing time is important, it’s easiest to just make a substitution chart. Score isn’t kept, make sure that parents understand that and discourage them from doing it on their own

Please don’t fund pugg…. They are absolute garbage - use bownets. You may thank me l8r

[Anonymous]

There are a lot of fun soccer games on YouTube

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Always keep score that is important but also teach them sportsmanship not running the score up .teach them to win but challenge the
If they are up by 7 or more goals to pass and keep possession rather than run up the score

DO NOT encourage keeping score at this age. That is bad advice! The kids will do it on their own but do not fall into that!

Don't stress over rules. Cap at a couple. As long as they are respectful, have fun.

[Anonymous]

I think at U6 the rules were....

3v3 using Pugg goals. We did not do throw ins. Both coaches walked the field with the players with two balls in each arm. If the ball went out of bounds, there was no throw ins or kicks. A coach just yelled "ball in" rolled a ball to a player (usually the one getting the least amount of touches regardless of which team kicked it out). Parents would shag balls and get them back to the coaches. We did not teach goal kicks or corners. We did not have goalies until U8 so noone used their hands in U6 or U7. We did do kick offs to start the game and after half time and after each goal. Subs any time you want them when the ball goes out of bounds or plays stops for a foul, a goal, etc.

Each league might be different. get with the other coach and agree with what you want to do. With 10 players playing 3v3, we used to have two games on 3v3 going on simultaneously on adjacent fields. Talk with the other coach if you want to make each team up randomly or have the more aggressive players play against the more aggressive players of the other team (like make A and B teams). This was always a point of contention but I felt it worked. I enjoyed watching the usually shy kids playing against the usually shy kids otherwise, the aggressive players just beat them to the ball all the time.

Enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Always keep score that is important but also teach them sportsmanship not running the score up .teach them to win but challenge the
If they are up by 7 or more goals to pass and keep possession rather than run up the score

DO NOT encourage keeping score at this age. That is bad advice! The kids will do it on their own but do not fall into that!

Don't stress over rules. Cap at a couple. As long as they are respectful, have fun.

Absolutely Keep score as you are laying the foundation for them. Do not use the score as the only measurement of success. But teach them at a young age with fun competitions like the losing team picks up all the cones. Remember to constantly switch up the teams to make them as competitive as possible. Its important at this age to keep your teams at practice as evenly matched up as possible but also keep switching them every competition. This keeps them hungry to win but also teaches them how to handle loss.At the end of the day its your job to make it as fun and enjoyable as possible at the same time always keep that carrot dangling in front that when they are successful a reward awaits.

[Anonymous]

OMFG, NO score keeping at that age! Your club does this because it is developmentally inappropriate to keep score.

You really just want them to have fun, don't worry so much about rules. Your only goal, is that they should have so much fun that they want to do it again, with you as coach, in the Spring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMFG, NO score keeping at that age! Your club does this because it is developmentally inappropriate to keep score.

You really just want them to have fun, don't worry so much about rules. Your only goal, is that they should have so much fun that they want to do it again, with you as coach, in the Spring.

Don't worry about rules. WTF is that? Every game has rules. She wants to know what the rules are. Whether or not to keep score is not a rule that she makes up. She will be playing against another team so I assume that they won't keep an official score and post it or anything but kids keep score. Parents keep score. So as a coach, just don't focus on the score....but there will be a score unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMFG, NO score keeping at that age! Your club does this because it is developmentally inappropriate to keep score.

You really just want them to have fun, don't worry so much about rules. Your only goal, is that they should have so much fun that they want to do it again, with you as coach, in the Spring.

Totally wrong.... If its a just for fun activity there would be no competing against each other. The whole purpose of the game is to try score and stop your opponent from scoring. The dont keep score folks are more worried about their kids not losing than learning the lessons in losing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMFG, NO score keeping at that age! Your club does this because it is developmentally inappropriate to keep score.

You really just want them to have fun, don't worry so much about rules. Your only goal, is that they should have so much fun that they want to do it again, with you as coach, in the Spring.

Totally wrong.... If its a just for fun activity there would be no competing against each other. The whole purpose of the game is to try score and stop your opponent from scoring. The dont keep score folks are more worried about their kids not losing than learning the lessons in losing.

Sure, if this is the national team. This is U-littles at 4v4 without goalies. The goal is skill development and player retention. Get them to dribble, learn cuts turns and moves, try them under pressure, and have fun so that they come back. Celebrate their goals, but also celebrate their attempts at something difficult or a good decision even if it doesn’t end in a goal. I would rather have a player lose the ball trying a move and get scored on than whack the ball forward and it meanders into the net. Team results are not the point - individual development is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMFG, NO score keeping at that age! Your club does this because it is developmentally inappropriate to keep score.

You really just want them to have fun, don't worry so much about rules. Your only goal, is that they should have so much fun that they want to do it again, with you as coach, in the Spring.

+1

[Anonymous]

Your league should send the coaches rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your league should send the coaches rules.

-1 If club/league sends rules, send them back. Everyone should just do what they want. They are too young for rules!