Kids Soccer? HELP!

“So, I signed up my 10 yr old for kids rec league soccer and just called with a plea to be a coach! I've never coached soccer (used to coach t ball) and never even played soccer or really ever watched!

Anybody know of a decent place to go look for some general info? The rec office said they have a few books and such too, which should be helpful.

btw - this is a 10-12 yr old group of kids.”

“I played soccer once in second grade... i don't remember much about it - i don't suppose i'm much help.”

“Go to the local library, get books and videos. I got sucked in the same way, did fine.”

“soccer!!!!!! sign him up for an American sport like football or baseball ;)

sorry Roam no help from me on that sport.

I bet Gem knows something about it.”

“Yeah, I'm more of a traditional sport guy, mostly baseball is in my "comfort zone". I guess at a minimum i'll meet some local folks in my new home town.”

“Soccer Mom's”

“lol”

“roam's a soccer mom”

“That's awesome Roam! I'm all for the soccer craze. I don't care for soccer but anything that gets kids out and active is aces in my book.

Thy this site:

http://www.soccerhelp.com/”

“Also keep in mind that 10 year old’s soccer isn’t an exact science. The games in that range I’ve seen was simply a bunch of kids running around trying to kick the ball. It was like controlled chaos. But then again, that’s all the pro games look like to me too. LOL!”

“Roam, the key is to include some of the parents to help with practice, especially if you have never coached. Many of the parents played soccer and would love to help out. Another key is to find a couple really good goalies. Its great to have a scorer on the team, but a good goalie will save your butt in that age range.

And please, don't be one of those jerk coaches who determines who their best scorer is and then plans their whole game around everyone getting the ball to that kid at all times. That really sucks for the rest of the kids.”

“thanks for the links!

mucho agreed hyway - the idea is to have a LOT of fun AND learn a little about the game, but mostly to have fun.”

“Oh my Y2 has finally outed himself as an evil British agent. Look at that link he posted, it says "football" but it's about soccer. This is obviously an evil ploy to get good, wholesome, Americans who have an interest in football hooked on the evils of soccer.....


:0”

“So Y2, are you a Inter-City Jibber or a Cockney Red?



last edited: 3/12/05 9:23:49 PM”

“The new kid in town, gets nabbed for volunteer work, everytime”

“so sorry, but I don't know anything about soccer. I hated going with my dad every sunday to the soccer field. Hey...I did play soccer once. Don't know why...but I did.

only thing I know about soccer is this:


;)”

“Thanks Gem - you ruined my completely nice thread!”

“Roam, another thing, always leave enough time after practice to provide special instruction to those who just need it...

”

“good point hyway - i'll have to remember to do that.”

“ICF all the way Nigal. West Ham Fan.”

“First game today! beautiful weathe for it too. Practices have gone well and the girls seem to have made some progress. They are all having fun.”

“have fun Roam!
hope the girls have a good time too!”

“sarah's nervous, which is a good sign, i think.”

“GO GET 'EM SARAH!”

“good luck dude, and take a big baseball bat to intimidate any rowdy parents ;)

Last week, while I was traipsing around in the woods, Brianna (my 9 yo) scored the only goal for either team. She was very happy. This is the first year she has played on the big, regulation size, field. She was passed the ball at midfield and dribbled past 2 or 3 defenders to go one on one with the goalie. I wish I could have seen it. what made it even better was her best friend was goalie and he made 7 or 8 spectacular saves. They were both very happy campers.”

“thats awesome hyway!

Hoepfully the girls will score a couple of goals.”

“so how did yall do? Everyone have fun and grow some character?”

“everybody had fun, nobody scored (from our team). They learned a few things though. They were all smiling when they left.

I know a few things we'll work on in practice.”

“I played. I loved it. Make them practice kicking the ball (properly) with BOTH feet. Coach them not to all get in the fray but be ready to be passed TO, and be ready to pass to a teammate when they get rushed. Keep-away in a confined area is a great training game (kinda like "running bases" and baseball.)”

“Do you the balls for each kid to have their own at practices??? A good drill is for each kid to start with their right foot on the (stationery) ball and hop and switch to their left, then there right and so on and so on. This ingrains them with where the bottom of there boot is. After they master that, have them draw the ball backwards while doing the drill. Then stepping over the ball sideways, dragging the ball with them. If the kid can control the ball under them the only way someone will take it from them will result in a foul.”

“good idea flyguy. We're gonna work on some one on one drills and some three on two stuff. Ball control was our downfall - that and "swarming" the ball - the girls don't quite understand the concept of "space" yet.”

“wooo hoooO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The girls played sooo much better and soooo much more agressive today than last week!

It was awesome! Two players each scored a goal and our defenders pretty much kept the ball out of our half of the field.

We had about 5 or 6 shots on goal and came very close to scoring at least three more times.

Yeah, i'm pretty proud of my team, and my daughter!”

“congrats Sarah & team!
good work coach!”

“Hey Congrats to them!! and to you of course!”

“congrats roam and sarah.


Brianna's team got crushed today 5-0”

“ouch, but that was us last week.”

“BowlderSon is playing soccer again this fall. Right before the first game, he said at breakfast "I think I'll ask Coach Marc if I can play goalkeeper." We shuddered. Well, he did pretty well, made some really nice saves and did a good job kicking the ball out on goal kicks, etc. So this past Saturday, he started talking about playing goalkeeper for the whole game. I advised him against it because sometimes you play against a team that isn't very good and it can be really boring. Sure enough, they totally dominated the team they played. I don't think he touched the ball the entire first half. So in the second half, with his team leading 2-0, the coach had him play forward (usually he's a midfielder). He ended up with a hat trick in about half of the second half!”

“Goalie is like catcher, although I wanted no parts of it when I did play soccer.”

“Too much pressure for my taste....”

“Sounds like the kid Bowl'd 'em over!”

“Goalie is a tough spot in the middle age groups. The kids aren't quite dextrous enough and don't know how to anticipate well untill they hit about 16 or so.

12U is a tough league (that's what I was coaching)”

“Wow! BowlderSon's soccer team won their league championship yesterday, closing out a 4-0 tourney record over the weekend. Last year, they lost in the championship in OT. This year, against three teams from a higher division and the first place team from their own division, they plowed through by scores of 3-1, 1-0, 1-0, and 5-2. B-son was fabulous on defense - he and another kid make an excellent pair on "D" with their speed and feel for where to pass it, etc. He did score one goal in the first game by sneaking down field and sending a ball into the net from outside the box that was not cleared far enough.

Until a goal late in the game yesterday with the game out of reach at 4-1, they had only given up 3 goals in that game plus the previous six games. I was really proud of him (and told him so) for accepting an important, but often unglamorous role on the team, and excelling at it.

The teamwork, overall, was spectacular.

The team they played yesterday in the championship was the most physical they had played all season. The ref was allowing most of it, but nobody complained - that's just soccer. Late in the game, one of the rougher kids was going after a ball that B-Son was also chasing, and was throwing a few elbows during the chase. Just as they reached the ball, the kid kind of threw his body at B-Son, but basically bounced off and flew to the ground. The ref finally called a foul on the kid. There were no hard feelings by anyone, and the kid laid off for the rest of the game - good thing, because B-Son had had about enough of that crap. I'm learning that he's not a kid you want to mess with - he'll find a way to put you on your ass if you try to push him around.


last edited: 11/20/06 10:08:12 AM”

“I suggest

http://www.break.com/index/italian_football_training_program.html”

“LMAO!!!!”

“Congrads, BowlderMan!”

“B-Son's first soccer game of the season was Saturday. They are in an older age group than last year (under 14 now), and because of their success last fall and this past spring, they are in the next-to-highest division. They will likely get their butts kicked once in a while this season, which is a good thing - there's a lot to learn from some of the better teams in the league. On Saturday, they played the best team from one of the nearby clubs to a 0-0 tie. It was a great game. B-Son's team had several scoring opportunities, but couldn't quite capitalize. B-Son and his two backfield partners were able to keep their opponents shots to a bare minimum. The other team had two golden opportunities to score, both of which were uncharacteristically due to somewhat poor officiating (I think it's the first time in 5 years the official was not very good). The first was a penalty kick that was called when one of the kids on our team and one of the kids on the other team bumped together a couple times going after a ball. I didn't think either kid did more than the other, and nobody fell down. Well, the penalty kick was kicked pretty much straight to our goalkeeper, and he stopped it! Later, the official called a handball when one of B-Son's teammates put his hands up to keep from getting a ball in the face. My understanding is that they aren't supposed to call a hand ball if a kid is protecting his face. A direct kick was awarded, but the kid sent it about a foot over the goal. B-Son played well, other than about a 5-minute segment where he just plain missed a few balls that came his way. The kids have really learned teamwork over the past few years, though, so there was somebody backing him up each time - no damage done.

As expected with the older age group, the play was a little rougher than last year, but the kids didn't freak out. Our coach actually got on B-Son's case a little for a little retaliatory push he gave a kid who had elbowed one of his teammates earlier.”

“Thanks for the flashback to 1969 --- !

As I always say.... There's Football -- and there's American Football,     [ GRIN ]”

“Gotta agree with Tilt on this one.”