asksoccernova wrote:I do not worry about U6's bunching up. They only play 3v3 anyway.

You can't expect kids to stop bunching up until they learn passing technique, and understand that in order to make passes, they have to spread out.

Just saying "spread out" 100x does nothing. They have to know WHY. There are plenty of fun passing exercises / games that you can do, and then its obvious to them that making a 1-foot pass has no benefit.

You can also start to have them pass in triangles, 3v0 and eventually 3v1. I've been able to get U7's to understand it, U8's can really start to move the ball around if reinforced, and U9's (if taught properly) can actually play 3v1 and 4v2 possession games. They just have to be taught the right way. It does break down on game day sometimes, so you still have to reinforce it over and over again in practice.

thank you coach for the reply.

i just want to mention that in our league U6/U7 play 4v4, and with the 'add a player if up 4+ goals' rule, it could be 4v5 for most of the games. really not ideal but it's just a phase and age appropriate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Sounds like this isn't for you an you need to make your kid find something else to do.

Well for now the "something else to do" is to continue playing in the rec league he enjoys. So we've found that, but thanks for the suggestion. But you haven't answered my question. And it's a sincere question. I'm trying to understand what's best for my son, and really struggling to see ANY benefit in travel soccer at his age.

What's the point of travel soccer? What's the benefit to the kids in the top 15-25% of the team (rather than the tippy-top kids who truly don't have peers in their local club)?
For those think travel soccer is for them (at the U9/U10 level) - why? What good comes of it as a family or as a player that the kid can't get in a decent rec or county league?

Level of competition. Travel is for competitive types who like to compete and to keep going higher and higher in levels of competition.

Development. Training by a volunteer parent (who may or may not know anything about soccer) vs. training by a paid professional. For athletes who want to keep developing to reach their maximum potential.

and Challenge. If your kid is good and continues to get better, he will get bored in the REC environment and will need more challenge. Otherwise if he just likes to kick the ball around for fun and doesn't care about competing seriously, let him stay REC.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Sounds like this isn't for you an you need to make your kid find something else to do.

Well for now the "something else to do" is to continue playing in the rec league he enjoys. So we've found that, but thanks for the suggestion. But you haven't answered my question. And it's a sincere question. I'm trying to understand what's best for my son, and really struggling to see ANY benefit in travel soccer at his age.

What's the point of travel soccer? What's the benefit to the kids in the top 15-25% of the team (rather than the tippy-top kids who truly don't have peers in their local club)?
For those think travel soccer is for them (at the U9/U10 level) - why? What good comes of it as a family or as a player that the kid can't get in a decent rec or county league?

Level of competition. Travel is for competitive types who like to compete and to keep going higher and higher in levels of competition.

Development. Training by a volunteer parent (who may or may not know anything about soccer) vs. training by a paid professional. For athletes who want to keep developing to reach their maximum potential.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Sounds like this isn't for you an you need to make your kid find something else to do.

Well for now the "something else to do" is to continue playing in the rec league he enjoys. So we've found that, but thanks for the suggestion. But you haven't answered my question. And it's a sincere question. I'm trying to understand what's best for my son, and really struggling to see ANY benefit in travel soccer at his age.

What's the point of travel soccer? What's the benefit to the kids in the top 15-25% of the team (rather than the tippy-top kids who truly don't have peers in their local club)?
For those think travel soccer is for them (at the U9/U10 level) - why? What good comes of it as a family or as a player that the kid can't get in a decent rec or county league?

Anonymous wrote:OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Sounds like this isn't for you an you need to make your kid find something else to do.

I do not worry about U6's bunching up. They only play 3v3 anyway.

You can't expect kids to stop bunching up until they learn passing technique, and understand that in order to make passes, they have to spread out.

Just saying "spread out" 100x does nothing. They have to know WHY. There are plenty of fun passing exercises / games that you can do, and then its obvious to them that making a 1-foot pass has no benefit.

You can also start to have them pass in triangles, 3v0 and eventually 3v1. I've been able to get U7's to understand it, U8's can really start to move the ball around if reinforced, and U9's (if taught properly) can actually play 3v1 and 4v2 possession games. They just have to be taught the right way. It does break down on game day sometimes, so you still have to reinforce it over and over again in practice.

OK soccer coach (and uber-parents) - please help me understand the whole point of travel soccer. I would understand getting together the top, say 5% of players in an area and forming a team with them and having them compete against other similar teams. And those teams would probably need to be further away to create the top level of competition. So I get why travel soccer started.

BUT... that doesn't seem to be the case now. Now, it's the top 1/3 or more of kids in any given club that is on the "travel" team. So there are more than enough teams to have a county-by-county similarly competitve league.
We are currently in a U8 county league. Team is doing well - only one loss, but no blow outs. The competition is fine. The coach is planning to move to NCSL for U9. Likewise, most of the other top teams in the county league are moving to travel too. So now everyone is paying more money, just to drive further to play teams that are the same as the ones we could find in our own county.

Why the racket? What's the real benefit to the kids? Why not competitive county-wide (for example) leagues?

DS won't be trying out for the U9 travel team this year. My idea of a fun family day isn't traveling 1.5 to watch a bunch of 8 year olds play slightly above average soccer for 40 minutes.
To hear his coach say it, we've just doomed him to never play good soccer in his life. Sigh.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi coach you still here?

Do you worry about K/U6 kids bunching up in games? Google results appear to be an even split for this age group. Wondering what other coaches do in this area.

Not the original coach here but someone who has done a lot of coaching and research in the early ages ...

I would say "worry, but don't obsess." It's difficult to get kids to pass at U6 (some would even say U9, which I think is bogus). But you can still try to impress upon them that good things can happen when they're not all bunched together, and I don't think it does anyone any good to just write it off as something that can't be taught.

You have to try creative drills, though. You're not going to get anywhere by yelling "Spread out!" 100 times per game[i][u].

Crap. Clearly that's the problem on my son's team

Your kid is good but not good enough for DA -
Can you try and explain this ?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi coach you still here?

Do you worry about K/U6 kids bunching up in games? Google results appear to be an even split for this age group. Wondering what other coaches do in this area.

Not the original coach here but someone who has done a lot of coaching and research in the early ages ...

I would say "worry, but don't obsess." It's difficult to get kids to pass at U6 (some would even say U9, which I think is bogus). But you can still try to impress upon them that good things can happen when they're not all bunched together, and I don't think it does anyone any good to just write it off as something that can't be taught.

You have to try creative drills, though. You're not going to get anywhere by yelling "Spread out!" 100 times per game.

what're some you liked?

Anonymous wrote:Hi coach you still here?

Do you worry about K/U6 kids bunching up in games? Google results appear to be an even split for this age group. Wondering what other coaches do in this area.

Not the original coach here but someone who has done a lot of coaching and research in the early ages ...

I would say "worry, but don't obsess." It's difficult to get kids to pass at U6 (some would even say U9, which I think is bogus). But you can still try to impress upon them that good things can happen when they're not all bunched together, and I don't think it does anyone any good to just write it off as something that can't be taught.

You have to try creative drills, though. You're not going to get anywhere by yelling "Spread out!" 100 times per game.

Hi coach you still here?

Do you worry about K/U6 kids bunching up in games? Google results appear to be an even split for this age group. Wondering what other coaches do in this area.

Hey Coach, You stated...Having a Technical Director that wants you to succeed is important...

What is success to you? How does you TD envision success? I'm guessing you are NOT going to say wins and losses so how do you "track" success or quantify success?

Hi Coach...as a coach/trainer, what are some of the better clubs to coach for? Why do you stay at your current club? Do you think it's important for a club to set a curriculum and all the teams adhere to it pretty closely or should coaches/trainer have a lot of independence?


A "better club" to me just means that the people making the important "soccer decisions" are actually qualified to do so. People that are experienced in soccer understand that all decisions need to be made in the best interests of the players. A good club is one where people are actually qualified to hold the positions they have and make the decisions they make.

Some coaches are more comfortable working independently and mostly being left to do their own thing, and some like being part of a large club where they coach several teams. It's all individual preference.

Having a Technical Director that wants you to succeed is important... not someone who keeps track of all the things you've unknowingly done wrong in their head and then surprises you with a list one day out of the blue. If you make a mistake, they let you know right away and don't make it personal.

Also not having parents that go around your back with their complaints up the chain of command, with the club president or the county recreation department for whatever the grievance is.

The biggest source of parent complaints that go on in the background (at least at younger ages) usually come from tryouts, the A/B/C team splits and the movement between teams, especially as parents are overprotective and stressing about their kid's future. ESPECIALLY in tight-knit areas of northern VA where everyone knows everyone else in their "burb" because they all live next door to each other, their kids have all played on the same rec teams for years, and everyone is in each others' business.

Also working with players that challenge your own coaching ability because you can test their limits, and a talent pool that allows your team/s to be competitive at least within the DC area.

Knowing that there are other good coaches also and colleagues you can chat with or do other things with off the field once in a while. Opportunities to work summer camps, offseason programs, etc and having freedom to do different things.

Being able to stay with the same team for as long as you choose to as long as its a fit and not being forced to move to a different team after U9-U10 when you have built the players up from raw talent into up and coming players.

A club should set a curriculum for training programs for non-travel players from U9-U12ish ages (and younger), but age group coaches should have the freedom to do as they want if they are good enough to design their own sessions. Age group coaches should be experienced enough to do that on their own. Different age groups have different starting points and it is not a one-size-fits-all curriculum for travel.

I stay because I like the people I work around, have a good relationship with the parents, TD, kids, other coaches, its a club that doesn't have ultra-high expectations attached to its name but still has been around for a while has a good reputation and is large enough to put together good teams but not a lot of bureaucracy. Plus I have built up a group of players that I like and want to continue with. Switching clubs is a hassle and you only do it if you really have to or if there is a career opportunity too good to pass up on.

No club is perfect, whether you are a coach or parent, its just a matter of what +/- tradeoffs you can accept. If you are in one place for a while, at least you know what the negatives are and can hopefully live with them.

When you switch clubs, you get a whole new different set of negatives to deal with that you can never see from the surface. At least if you are in the same place for a while, you can work around the negatives as you figure out what they are, so you can focus on why you are there in the first place, which is to develop players and make a difference for your kids. As a coach working year-round with the same players, you are a very influential adult in a kid's life, after their parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:hi coach - how can a team mgr help in rec K level?

I'm not the coach on his message board - but did coach my kids at that age. I appreciated the team manager that organized the snack schedule, organized the end of year party (if the team decided to have one), and reminded folks about the picture date / times.

+1

And help tie their shoes. I'm convinced kids' shoelaces these days are made of Teflon.

ha, thanks, this i can do! i usually double-knot my own kids but not many others.