Anonymous wrote:Make sure to have the entire team clap for the kid who shows up late/last.

Yeah because the kid drove himself to practice. Dumb idea.

Anonymous wrote:Make sure to have the entire team clap for the kid who shows up late/last.

Terrible idea.

Make sure to have the entire team clap for the kid who shows up late/last.

Someone on this forum recommended this guy to me last year, and I have benefited from learning about his approach to the game:

http://tomsan.com/en/index.php

As far as being a coach of 6 year old kids, I think the best approach would be to focus on technical skills and having fun manipulating the ball, dribbling, making quick changes of direction, etc.; avoid encouraging "big kicks" and don't focus too much on scoring goals (at least in practice).

Keep it fun and enjoy yourself -- your 6 year old will be a high school freshman in the blink of an eye.

Anonymous wrote:Have fun. Do not, do not allow any player to make fun of another. They are teammates and should support each other even when they mess up. Valuable life lesson. And most of all do not let parents dictate your actions. Enjoy.

If anyone laughs at someone else's mistake, have the whole team run some laps.

What league is this? The two fields thing I think doesn't apply. Loudoun Soccer's website, under about,coaching there is a session planning libary that has 8 weeks worth of practices.

I found that getting kids to stay focused is a challenge. Anyone acting up, ask them if they want to sit out practice or even make them sit out. The risk is if their parents made them play soccer, they might shoot the hostage and say yes I'll sit out.
Try having them place their water bottles in a specific spot and run as a team to and from the field during water breaks.

Beyond that, have a few drills ready, and then do a scrimmage or bingo when you are done with those.

Do you have regular matches outside of your practices? If so the other coaches that have had their team together for a bit will take full advantage of your mistakes. Focus early on throw-ins or kick-ins to go down the line, along with sending goal kicks out wide.
The star players tend to pay the least attention to what they are supposed to do, so maybe in scrimmages stop the game and explain when they do something wrong, and give a goal to the other team. I did this to try and make the scores more equal, but it ended up being the star's team picked it up better.

Also, you might notice that the parents are not happy with your coaching. If anyone says anything, just mention that they were all on the waiting list.

Anonymous wrote:Monkey In the middle is the most basic six-year-old passing game to play

Aka RONDO. Eventually you’ll want to use proper terminology

Mojo Sports app was recommended by Alexandria for Rex coaches last year. Some of the drills are a bit complex/need a lot of equipment, but it’s a decent starting point. If you have the chance to observe a travel team practice that’s helpful - I steal a lot of my drills from my younger son’s travel coaches. Between 1) Rondo for 5-10 mins https://www.soccerxpert.com/drills/details/circle-rondo-soccer-drill 2) a drill teaching something specific - shooting, goalkeeping, throw-ins, passing, and 3) a scrimmage you’ll be out of time before you know it

Anonymous wrote:2 necessities: Pugg goals and an assistant!

Start practices with small-sided scrimmages as kids arrive so they have fun right away and will be more excited to get there early.

+1 for enlisting an assistant.

Set up goals first thing so they can play on their own as they arrive.

Avoid drills that require taking turns.

Plenty of scrimmage time.

a few tips, probably already mentioned

1) try to keep having fun as the top priority for everyone; model having fun--they're watching you
2) include a lot of activities where every player has a ball or one ball for every two players; you can find lots of soccer practice games like this online
3) plan two hours of activities for a one hour practice
4) require every player to bring a ball with them to every practice but have a couple extra on hand too for backup
5) recruit an assistant coach(es) to help manage the chaos and facilitate dividing them up into smaller groups
6) game days are for the parents, not the kids; they are your lowest priority as the coach

Remember the Manny Schellscheidt quote, "I don't believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is the result of a love affair between the child and the ball." Your job at that age is to foster that love affair between the players and the ball. That's it. If you get some of them to fall in the love the feel of the ball on their foot you've done a great job.

2 necessities: Pugg goals and an assistant!

Start practices with small-sided scrimmages as kids arrive so they have fun right away and will be more excited to get there early.

Anonymous wrote:Monkey In the middle is the most basic six-year-old passing game to play

+1

And kids generally like it.

Find some basic drills to do, to practice the fundamentals -- dribbling, passing, shooting on goal, etc. -- and let them play a few scrimmages. But the real point should be teaching them to be good sports and supportive teammates, and having fun.

Tip: plan out practice in advance and, as much as possible, set up any necessary equipment. Lag between activities is when kids lose focus and start goofing off. If you can keep them moving, you'll have to deal with having to get their attention back on the practice less (there will still be some of that, of course -- they are six).

soccer is fun, kids love playing with the ball and their friends. keep ball games small, so every kid has one. when they play, keep it like 3v3.

if you see one struggle, talk to him/her individually really quick and just be encouraging. monkey see monkey do

Have fun. Do not, do not allow any player to make fun of another. They are teammates and should support each other even when they mess up. Valuable life lesson. And most of all do not let parents dictate your actions. Enjoy.

Keep it fun and short. Most important no lines ever. By line I mean lining the kids up to do some drill. No favorite and everyone plays the same amount,

Your goal should be to for all the kids to play next year.