Castell - Mighty Mites : Youth Soccer Session Plans and Methodology for U4-U8.

Mighty Mites

Dedication Without the support of so many fantastic and influential people in my life, guiding me through experiences which educate, sculpt, and give joy, something like this book adventure would not have been possible. It has been a defining part of my life, allowing me to hopefully assist the many on changing a youth soccer culture for the better, and I want to thank those who without their support, this wouldnt have happened.

To all of my family and friends from back home in England: people like my mum, dad, and sister, and friends like Dan, Wayne, and John. People who do things like plan a whole wedding for a guy who is only there once every other year. These are the people that allow me to leave my home, as I know I will always have a place where I belong whenever I need.

To my Japanese brother, Sugar, for somehow getting me to Montevallo University in Alabama, guiding my work ethic as a coach, and then introducing me to Coerver Coaching and Dave Dresbach. Dave will always be influential in allowing me to find my brand as a coach and educating me on the defining Coerver Methodology.

To my wife, Kim, and children Courtney, Garret, Kylie, and Gianna. As every married man knows, we are nothing without our better half supporting us and allowing us to wear the pants every now and then. Thank you to all of you for giving my life meaning and supporting me emotionally every day. I am forever thankful you are in my life. Your support and smiles make the bad days great and the great days perfect.

Thank you to all of the people along the way who have been there on and off the field. You are all in my heart and mind.

Finally, I would like to dedicate this book to my newborn son, Devon. I hope you live a full life and your soccer coaches in the future have read this book and give you a great platform to be the next Englands no. 9. I love you with all my heart and I cannot wait to watch you grow into an outstanding man.

Legal Notice This book has been very carefully prepared, but no responsibility is taken for the correctness of the information it contains. Neither the author nor publisher can assume liability for any damages or injuries resulting from information contained in this book.

Chris Castell

Youth Soccer Session Plans
and Methodology for U4-U8

Meyer & Meyer Sport

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Mighty Mites

Maidenhead: Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.,

ISBN: 9781782550167

All rights reserved, especially the right to copy and distribute, including the translation rights. No part of this work may be reproducedincluding by photocopy, microfilm or any other means processed, stored electronically, copied or distributed in any form whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher.

2014 by Meyer & Meyer Sport (UK) Ltd.

Aachen, Auckland, Beirut, Budapest, Cairo, Cape Town, Dubai, Hgendorf, Indianapolis, Singapore, Sydney, Tehran, Wien

Member of the World Sport Publishers Association (WSPA)

ISBN: 9781782550167

eISBN: 9781782553885

E-Mail:

www.m-m-sports.com

Welcome one and all to the easiest and most efficient guide to youth soccer. If you are looking for the complete guide to developing your players at the highest rate, but you are concerned that this may be a difficult task, then you are in the right place. This easy, concise guide is the CliffsNotes guide to making creative and fun sessions which take your soccer players from amateur to professional in seconds. (Disclaimer: this book does not guarantee players will become professional, especially in seconds.) The main hope for this book is that you have a great time with your players as you teach the beautiful game of soccer, rather than the misconception that one can only be done in lieu of the other.

For most of us, the thought of coaching a young team is as daunting as a parent going through childbirth as the what am I doing here and what am I supposed to do questions are ringing in your ears. You are to take on the challenge of being a youth soccer coach, but do not fear and fret no more. Coaches, its time to put on your combats and strap on that helmet. Lets go to work!

If you are reading this book, you are either: a club official, coach, or board member, assigned to lead your coaches in elite level youth coaching; or a coach, parent, or other, with some experience in soccer and set to be the head coach of a team; or a parent thrown in at the deep end with zero knowledge of soccer and coaching.

Whatever the reason, I am here to help.

Coaching, or asking young people to do anything, is pretty tough, so you are doing the right thing by researching what the best approach may be. This book will give you strategies and techniques to make the whole process as much fun for you as it will be for the players, so relax. As you read through the book, there are many new and revolutionary techniques used to give your sessions the best look and feel and to instill pride in what you are doing for these kids and the organization. To do this, with young, screaming, quiet, energetic, overenthusiastic, shy, bouncy kids is no mean feat, so its time to take control!

When I research training sessions for the younger ages, I always have two major complaints. First of all, the coaches seem to forget that these are 4- to 6-year-old children, not infants who can barely walk. They have the potential to do so much and surprise everyone. We can teach them to hold a crayon properly, color within the lines, and even write their own name. Therefore, shouldnt we hold the same high expectations when teaching them how to properly kick a ball in a certain direction? And secondly, the same coaches do not seem to understand how difficult it is as coaches to maintain the attention, organize, and direct a group of young children into the drills. You may have one child punching another while Timmy is in the corner picking daisies, and George is running off the field to see mommy for a drink. Kids are not always easy to handle at that age, but there is, more often than not, nothing in the session plan to handle these challenges. Everything we do with the youth, we must take into account the possible personalities which we would encounter. So, how can we devise a session to be the catalyst for player development AND take into consideration their limited attention spans?

The answer is to give the children what they already love and add a ball. Its that simple. From there, you can teach anything you want!

A good analogy for learning soccer can come from looking at the school systems. Relate skill to subjects such as reading and math. Without these skills, we cannot excel in subjects such as history or science. We may be able to recite dates, but to become a History major, we must be able to apply our knowledge to paper. This is the same relation to skill and technique as in soccer. Without skill, all techniques (like passing and shooting) are difficult because our body and mind are not ready to compute all the actions we want to apply. If we teach skill first, however, technique becomes a by-product of this development. You may not be great at remembering dates in history, but you can at least describe what you are thinking effectively through your knowledge of the English language. Realistically, all general education classes can be compared to the techniques of the game. Geography, History, and Science are equivalent to passing, receiving, shooting, and so on. All of which are important, but we cannot get an A without a solid understanding and mastery of English or Math. We do not have to completely ignore the techniques as we learn the fundamental skills. Just like in school, children write about animals and personal and historical events. The majority of what they read and write about in school is about different subjects, but the teacher focuses on the application of English. We do the same in skill development. In my sessions, I have goals for players to shoot toward, passing and receiving to initiate the game and throughout, but my focus remains on the skill application.