Most of our town coaches are parents/volunteers that may or may not have experience playing or coaching soccer. This section of the coaches corner is specifically intended to provide a baseline understanding for beginning and intermediate coaches that will ensure both players and coaches get the most out of their seasons. Below are three presentations aimed at our youth program coaches.

U6 Coaching Fundamentals
For many players, this will be their first formal soccer team. If they don’t feel like it is fun, they likely will not continue playing soccer. It is important to understand what ‘fun’ is for our U6 players and how we can help them achieve it. It is important we coach our U6 players based on their mental and physical capabilities. We need to let 5-6 year olds be 5-6 years olds. At this age, we want to keep the attention on the love of the sport, with some minor attention to technical capabilities.
U6 Fundamentals of Coaching

U8 Coaching Fundamentals 

For some players, this will be their first formal soccer team, while others have been playing for 4+ years competitively. With a strong sense of another person's perspective, the ability to play in pairs and growing attention spans, we can utilize more focused coaching to grow our players. It is important to asses the various skill levels and focus on improving each player through the season based on their level. Players will achieve their maximum potential and sense of accomplishment if we provide them the best opportunity possible to grow as soccer players. At the U8 level, we want our players focusing mostly on ball mastery and technical skill. This will provide them the foundation they need moving forward.

U8 Fundamentals of Coaching

U10 Coaching Fundamentals 

Most U10 players have had some experience playing organized soccer before, though there will still be some that are fairly new. U10 players are now starting to understand, 'If this, then that' so it is important to put them into situations that challenge their decision making. Players at this age group can now be exposed to some tactical concepts (moving without the ball, passing to open spaces, defending in pairs). While we will start introducing tactical concepts, we continue to perfect ball mastery and technical skill, increasing speed and pressure the players are under.
U10 Fundamentals of Coaching