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[quote=asksoccernova]It starts with over-communication, very early on. Even before the season begins. Send out a weekly email to your team outlining what you will be covering in practice that week and what "theme" or series of age-appropriate games you will be playing. There should also be some kind of season plan in place that outlines what you will be covering each week.

In the very first email, include a section about Player Development Philosophy (your club/organization should already have one, so you can use that) and Game Results.

State that wins and losses at age 5 etc. are not important for the long-term development of the players. Make 3 priorities for the season - for example, having fun, learning the fundamentals of soccer, and developing social skills

Every week, notify parents of the practice theme of the week (dribbling, passing, shooting etc). The way you measure progress is to see if the players are attempting to use a skill learned in practice into the game. Whether they succeed in passing the ball correctly or not doesn't matter... the fact that they TRIED and it was something they learned how to do for the first time in practice that week is a big success.

Let the parents know ahead of time that your team will win or lose some games by a lopsided score, and some games will be very close ones that can go either way.

Regardless of the win/loss results, you want to make sure that the players are having fun, developing basic skills, learning to focus, and enjoying being part of a team.

Ask that parents be supportive of the individual players and the team regardless of the game results, win or lose (there will be some of both and its unpredictable from week to week).

When parents hear this same message from the coach week after week, they eventually start to get the picture. Literally every time you talk to a parent about how the team is doing, mention player development, improvement, theme of the week, etc.

Your club or organization should have a season plan or manual for recreational coaching working with the little ones. If you don't have one for some reason, ask the program director. The next step is to take the F License online course (or an equivalent course that covers the same information) so you are not just reading off the session plan and doing exactly as it says, but you start to learn how to change things around to fit the players, or make up your own activities that suit the group you are working with.

http://www.ussoccer.com/coaching-education/licenses/national-fhttp://www.ussoccer.com/coaching-education/licenses/national-f

Kids cannot play soccer the way it was meant to be played until their cognitive development catches up with the number of players on the field... just as they start to get comfortable with 4 or 5 players on the field at 7 years old, at U9, the numbers increase to 7v7 and the field size doubles. Then they have to learn the game all over again until finally they go to 11v11 at age 12.

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