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Tuesday 2 May 2017

U4 Week 1

Hey Coaches! The weather has finally turned in our favour and we are able to get on the field! I am excited for this season, and can’t wait to hang out with you on the field!
This is our first week, and the emphasis will be on getting to know your players, getting them moving, and just having fun! Do as many of these drills as you like, or tweak them in any way you think will work. I am also always on the field to help out and answer any questions.
As your team shows up give them a ball and have them play pass with each other, or with a parent.
Set up your grid with cones (roughly 15 yards by 15 yards should be good (to measure out a yard just take a big step, that will be roughly a yard), feel free to make it larger or smaller if you need.
When you change to a new drill, send the team for a REALLY quick water break (30 seconds) or have them working on their juggling, passing between each other, or be creative in how to keep them occupied. If you give them time to goof off, they will do just that and you will struggle to get their attention back.
For timing of each drill, if the kids love it, keep doing it. If they aren't getting it and you don't know what do do to help them, either call me over, or feel free to move on to another drill. I would recommend no more than 10 minutes per drill.
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Once they are all there, ask them some questions:
• Has anyone ever played soccer before?
• Does anyone know how to play soccer?
• Do you use your hands?
• How do you score points?  
  • Do you throw the ball into the goal?
This gets them thinking and involved in what you are talking about. Let them know that you only use your feet; that you kick the ball, and that you dribble the ball with your feet to get it from one end of the field to the other and that the object of the game is to score goals, and most of all, that we are here to have FUN.
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Get the players to warm-up with their ball.
• Toe-taps - Place the bottom of their foot on top of the ball and alternate feet doing this faster and faster.
• Tick-Tock - Place the ball between their feet and have them knock the ball back and forth between their feet.
THEY WILL HAVE TROUBLE WITH THIS….IT’S OKAY. LET THEM KNOW THAT IT IS HARD AND SHOW THEM YOU HAVE TROUBLE TOO!
• Run in place.
• Jump up and down and act silly.
The idea here is to get them going a little bit and get used to “getting ready” to practice. If you do the same warm-up exercise every week the players will actually start the warm-ups themselves when you call them over to start warming up. Have them touch their toes and stretch up to the sky as far as they can. Stretching at this age is not recommended other than the token stretches above.
1. Define the Area
Run around the outside of the playing field (encourage players to dribble their balls if they like ) to remind players that there is a boundary to the soccer field and that we want to try to keep the balls inside this area during a game. Analogy can be that the ball is their pet and the field is its home and we want to keep it inside it, outside the cones is a lava field and we don't want the ball to melt in the lava, or something like this!
2. Freeze Tag
Start without soccer balls.  Players run around your grid (make sure you emphasize that there is a boundary to this game) and you can start by being the tagger.  When a player is tagged, they must freeze until someone comes and unfreezes them by crawling under the legs. (Show them how to freeze with legs apart and arms up and out)  Then move to playing with soccer balls and have players dribbling around until they get tagged. To be unfrozen now, someone must pass the ball between your legs.  (Demo this)
3. Walking the Dog
Set up: Scatter lots of  cones in two different colours (if you have them, if not a single colour is fine) in a large playing area. In this example, I’ve used orange and yellow cones.
Every player has a ball.
How to play: Tell your players their ball is a dog.
Now ask them to give their dog a name. Have some fun with this! Who can think of the silliest name for a dog?
Now it’s time to take the “dogs” for a walk.
Tell your players the orange cones are lamp posts and the yellow cones are trees.
To begin with, the dogs want to sniff every lamp post. This means players have to run with the ball and pause beside every orange cone.
Then: “It’s raining! Get your dog under the ‘trees’!” Now the players run with their ball to the yellow cones.
If you only have 1 colour of cone keep changing what the cone is each time. Have fun with it, make it as whacky as you can!
Variations:
  • Dribble with both feet (or just their weaker foot).
  • Who can get under a tree the quickest? You don’t want to get wet!
  • Who can let their dogs sniff the most lamp posts in 20 seconds?

4. Soccer Islands
In your grid, make “islands” in each corner by using cones to mark out the “island” and make one circular island in the middle. Have the players start in the middle island, and number the 4 corner island 1-4, or give them names. Call out a number (or name) and have the kids run there. Once they get there, have them do a certain skill (toe taps, tic-tock, jump up as high as they can, lay down flat and get back up again, yell as loud as they can, etc… be creative. This is all about getting them to move).
5. Shark!
Play this game inside your grid.  Players are the "fish" and line up on one end of the grid with their soccer balls.  Coach is the "shark" and is in the centre of the grid.  When coach calls out "Shark!", players dribble and try to get to the other side without getting tagged by the shark.  If the shark tags them, they become a shark too.
Game
For the last 10-15 minutes of the practice have a mini game within your own team. Parents can join in as well. If the ball goes out, just kick a new ball back in. Throw-ins will be introduced later in the season. We want players to have as many touches on the ball during the game, so you could introduce a second ball if you feel this would help.