Teaching positions.

[grant]

We had a game on saturday with our U8 girls and they seem to be more interested in playing on the side of the field than actually playing soccer. We are trying to come up with some fun ways to work positions. They are very high strung and depending on the day have a limited attention span. So we need an exercise that is very easy to understand that does not take a lot of explaining.

[Jerzy]

U8s? I really only have two positions: forward and defense. And I pretty much only have one instruction: stay forward. I want my forwards to stay up so they can receive the ball and create some space, and I want my fullbacks to move up so that they play the ball at midfield rather than deep in my third. I don't spend too much time worrying about position, rather on trapping, striking the ball well and defending by staying between their mand and the ball.

[Val]

Originally Posted by grant

We had a game on saturday with our U8 girls and they seem to be more interested in playing on the side of the field than actually playing soccer. We are trying to come up with some fun ways to work positions. They are very high strung and depending on the day have a limited attention span. So we need an exercise that is very easy to understand that does not take a lot of explaining.

What exactly do you mean by playing on the side of the field?

You can come up with more descriptive names for the positions. Last time I had a U8 team, we played 4v4, no goalies. I played a diamond. I called my defender, who was a sweeper, the Rock because to score the other team had to go past him. My two midfielders I called Chasers, because that's what they were going to do anyway, and the top man in the diamond, I called him the target, because I wanted him to stay free and up top. It gave us rudimentary spacing and the kids understood the positions well enough.

And limited attention spans are part of the U8 experience, so just change your games every 5-10 minutes, max.

[rob h]

HI
I have recently took on a under 8s team, i know the basics of what to do with them, ie, keep it fun, let them play no crittisism,
But what can i do in order for them to take an interest in learning the game and what do you think i should do in the first session.