First and foremost: No Lines. No laps. No Lectures. Young players should be active the entire time, so no lines. Young players, since they are active, do not need to “run laps” to warm up or “get fit” playing will allow them to do both, so no laps. 7-8 year old generally just want to play, so no lectures!

 

At practice players should have a ball as often as possible. A key focus for this age is to encourage players not to fear the ball. When players are “ball hogs” at this age that is great! Children should be encouraged to try as many things as they would like with the ball including changing direction and changing how fast they run, and dealing with balls on the ground and with bouncing balls. For example, by playing stop and go with a ball, players must keep control of the ball while changing their speed as the coach gives them directions. The more a child has a ball at his or her feet, the more confident they will be on the soccer field.

 

Young players learn by watching and copying. Coaches should say things such as, “See if you can make it look like this.” If a coach cannot demonstrate something then having an older player demonstrate can be helpful. Players should be given an example of what the skill should look like, and then have some fun games that allow them to try the skill. This allows the player a certain amount of freedom to develop their ball control and see that there is more than one way of doing it. The beauty of soccer is that players can be creative, so allow them to take what they have learned and be creative.

 

Practices should end with a “game.” Children should be playing small sided 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 games on small fields. At this age, boundaries can be acknowledged, but they should not slow down practice or games too much.  Basic skills should be encouraged as this will ultimately build their confidence. Games should only be seen as another fun activity that happens to include a soccer ball. These young players are not ready for specific soccer type information and there should be no emphasis on team concepts or positions.