Ye Ole Sharks and Minnows

Yes, this week, my U6 boys spent most of the practice playing a slightly modified version of Sharks and Minnows. This is the game where most of the kids (minnows) try to dribble across the square (in our case, about a 15' x 15' box) with a player or two (sharks) on the inside trying to kick a minnow's ball out of the box. Our modification was simple.

1. The game never stopped. Once you got to the other side, try to get back immediately.
2. If your ball gets kicked out, go get it and try again.
3. The coach would switch out the sharks from time to time.

What you get is a ton of apparently chaotic movement with lots of laughing. You get a little taunting as some minnows attempt to attract the sharks. Best of all, the boys really learn to take care of the ball. It looked like so much fun, I may try it with the U10 girls.

-Bill

A Player's Transformation

My daughter is on our U10 girls team. I've coached her team since she was 4 years old. When they're little, they play because you ask them to and because it's fun. Some kids seem to love having the ball at their feet when they're little. My daughter was not one of those kids. She'd play with me (being the first born, she didn't have too much choice on who to play with most of the time). I wouldn't "coach" her at home. We'd just kick it around and play different games whenever I had the time. My 6 year old boys aren't that type of kid either. They'd much rather swing or play LittleBigPlanet than kick around the soccer ball at home. (Though they do love practice and the games.)

However, in recent weeks, my daughter's enthusiasm for the game seems to have had a step-function increase. She actually wants to spend extra time at practice and tries to listen when I have something to coach her about. (Coaching your own kids is a whole other story...) It's great to see. She plays harder than ever and seems to savor the challenge of a tough opponent. How long will this last? Weeks? Months? Years? I don't know. She may even want to watch some World Cup matches with me? That'll would certainly make my World Cup experience the best it could be. I will be savoring my time with her.

-Bill

Aggressively Gaining Possession of the Ball

(Below is a message I sent to my assistant coach for a practice plan when I was out of town.)

As for cones and such, I've just been using the cones and letting them play line soccer. I haven't set up real goals yet this year. Line soccer forces them to work on keeping it close while dribbling fast. I think this is a more important skill than shooting at this time. I'll leave my cones out on our porch by the front door.

As far as ideas, if I was there, this is what we'd do:

1. Start with the game (they've done this drill once already this season) where you pair up the girls with one ball per pair. They just leave the ball on the ground. One girls stands next to the ball and uses her body to shield the ball from the other player. She needs to stay low, good balance, keep her feet moving. The "shielded" player shouldn't even be allowed (by the "shielding" player) to get close enough to the ball to even touch it. You probably know the tricks better than me.
2. Progress to letting the girl shielding the ball throw it up in the air first and shield the ball just like before. However, now the ball is bouncing around a bit. The higher the throw, the better.
   
3. Progress to separating the pairs by some distance (10 yards or so) and letting the coach throw the ball up so it lands between them. They should use their shielding skills to gain "possession" of the ball.
4. Finally, you can separate the girls by the length of your field (~ 30 yards) and let them really charge the ball with a full sprint and try to score a line soccer goal.
5. You might want to end practice with monkey in the middle and they can ONLY pass the ball to the player that is farthest from them but still on the field. (30 x 25 yards). This should help them with maintaining separation in the game.
   

-Bill