5-6 year old soccer play--- bad form or good plan?

[ThaSaltCracka]

agreed completely. Only a pussy would teach players that everyone is a winner after the game, regardless of the outcome.

[stabn]

Its [censored] bunch ball anyway.

[renodoc]

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5-6 sport should really be non-competitive.


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I don't know how much I agree with this. I think the main point of sports at this age is to stress teamwork, but also learning to deal with winning and losing. I don't think that it should be super-competitive, but I also think it's a mistake to take competition entirely out of it so that everyone's a winner. Kids need to learn how to win as well as lose. And by "learning to win and lose", I mean learning to win and lose in the manner of a sportsman (i.e. not being a sore winner or sore loser).

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when we were handing out uniforms i noticed there was no number "1" wtf? i mean, i think this means the league is paranoid about these kids egos and all the others who won't be "#1"

they don't keep score or keep track of wins and losses.

but all the kids do.

and all the parents do.

and oh yeah, everyone gets a trophy at the end. which i find insane also.

[El Diablo]

reno,

"i've polled a couple soccer dads who immediately told me the play was offsides."

OK, that's fine. People don't know the rules right. I understand that part.

But I don't understand what that has to do with anything if this is a league where there's no offsides rule anyway.

[ThaSaltCracka]

Every team I was on when I was growing up gave out a trophy to every player at the end of the season. Its more a comemorative thing, unless you had a playoff or championship trophy.

Kids definitely keep track of the score and how their team is doing. Sugercoating losing is one of the reasons kids nowadays are pussy's and lazy asses.

[mo42nyy]

when i was in tball there was a rule that if someone threw the ball home (no catchers) once it crossed the plate all runners had to go back to the previous base they were running from.
I played first and 3rd and my dad would have me run in and catch the ball before it crossed the plate and tag out unsuspecting 6 year olds running home.

[BigPoppa]

When I coached T-ball there was a rule that only 8 kids could bat each inning (so the games didn't drag on forever).

One game our stellar defense got 3 outs before the other team scored in 2 innings and after only 2 runs twice more (with 3 double plays). The other coach got really pissed that I wouldn't let them keep batting until they'd had 8 batters.

My argument was that making our defense count for nothing would punish my kids for practicing a lot and playing well. Is this a valid point, or am I just a dick?

[TacoVendor]

I first became a soccer coach 20 years ago and have coached a wide range of age and ability in youth soccer. I played at a very competitive level until about 19 or 20, trained under euro national team players, and was director of coaching for a club that had nearly 800 youth players.

As others have said, no offside on throw-ins, no offside played in that age level. While it isn't quite within the spirit of the small sided games to camp a player in front of the net, it is absolutely fine (and preferable) to break a player downfield and towards the goal as the ball is being thrown. That is strategy that the players will carry through any level of the game and a great foundation.

You really shouldn't be teaching the kids of that age about opening up, etc. Unless they have (and some can by this point) gained a comfortable skill level with footwork and ball control, they don't really have the mental ability to process where the ball is, who has it, where they (or others) should be on the field, and look for the open players. They are focused on first, getting the ball; second, going towards the goal with it; and third, making it in there. Footwork and ball control get them to this point.

You should be starting them in certain positions on kickoffs and such, this is another foundation that they can grasp at this age that builds them for the next level. Few kids will do anything but run straight after the ball when it is touched, that is ok. They'll remember where they have to be on place kicks with repetition.

As they get to 7 or 8 years old they will start to grasp and use the concept of the whole field, and if they are focused on learning the footwork and ball control early on, then passing almost falls into place.

Good luck with the coaching, it is a tough one to start, but is very rewarding when you have kids having fun out on the field.

[TacoVendor]

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5-6 sport should really be non-competitive.


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I don't know how much I agree with this. I think the main point of sports at this age is to stress teamwork, but also learning to deal with winning and losing. I don't think that it should be super-competitive, but I also think it's a mistake to take competition entirely out of it so that everyone's a winner. Kids need to learn how to win as well as lose. And by "learning to win as well as lose", I mean learning to win and lose in the manner of a sportsman (i.e. not being a sore winner or sore loser).

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Every kid out there on the field knows what the score is even if it is not recorded or tracked. There was a coach one year of 6 year olds that broke out monogrammed ball caps for every player on his team that said "Undefeated!" under their team name right at the final whistle of their last game of the "untracked" season. His team dominated every other team, but that was a little over the top.

Over time I have seen youth soccer go from a real sport that built competitors into a game that just brings out players. All the while, the rest of the world laughs at our inability to compete at the highest levels of the sport. These two issues are closely related.

[JacJacAtk]

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About baseball, I remember running squeeze plays as an 8/9 yr old on a 60-foot diamond. It works if you have a wiry little bastard on third and you tell him the Boogeyman's coming!

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Maybe that's the difference. My catcher's 5'6" probably about 150, and is one of the quickest guys on the team. He nailed two guys at the plate in best linebacker fashion, as they tried to score on wild pitches. None of the guys that tried were able to actually get a bunt down (offering at chin-high fastballs not being real conducive to that), so we've yet to see how our 3B will handle it.

I just found it amusing that the opposition was going through all the elaborate signs, when you could just as easily give the kid the instructions out loud.