MYSA age group training guidelines

U6 ~ U8 ~ U10 ~ U12 ~ U14

U6- Five and Six Year-Olds

Technical Guidelines:

• Just "playing with the ball", getting the feel of it.
• Becoming "friends with the ball".
• Getting used to the reality of playing on one leg.
• Guiding the ball straight and to the sides with the insides of both feet.
• Kicking the ball accurately with the insides of the feet over 8 to 10 yards.

Tactical Guidelines:

Really simple instructions:

• "Yes! Run up and down the field!"
• "Look around a little!"
• Shoot! Score a lot of goals!"
• "Try to win the ball - and if the other team has the ball, get in their way!"
• "The ball should go in that goal - not this one!"
• "Now the game is often: "one against the other team".
• "Kids at this age think: "Where the ball is, that's where I want to be." It's completely against their way of thinking to move away from the ball, to spread out, or to "go wide".
• "Virtually no instruction in the rules - just rely on the kids' intuitions and innate sense of fair play.

Fitness Guidelines:

• Turn them loose as much as possible: let them run, chase, hunt the ball, kick it all over the place, MOVE!
• Nothing without the ball!

The Practice Environment:

• This is their world - as much as possible should be on their terms.
• Everything here is new: getting the kids used to the feeling of this soccer place is a big objective.
• Kids at this age are playful, concerned with themselves, absorbed with trying to control the ball; attention spans are small.
• Once your practice activities begin, the play of the kids may get chaotic. No problem!
• Lots of footwork and dribbling games: the aim is a maximum number of ball touches.
• for kicking: target games.
• Many repetitions in skill activities.
• One ball per player: "Everyone should have a toy!"
• Imagination, creativity, discovery, trial and error are vital.
• No "positions".
• #3 ball, small goals.
• The week's practice is 45 to 60 minutes long.

Games:

• Informal - simplified rules.
• Equal playing time.
• 3v3 or 4v4, no adults on the field.

U8 -Seven and Eight Year-Olds

Technical Guidelines:

• Continuing to become "friends with the ball": maximum ball touches and repetitions in footwork activities.
• Starting and stopping with the ball; changing direction with the insides and outsides of both feet.
• Turning through 180 degrees with the ball with the soles of the feet and the insides and outsides of the feet: emphasis on balance.
• Controlling rolling balls (passes) with the insides and outsides of the feet: beginning to develop good "first touch" with ground balls.
• Accurate passes over 10 to 15 yards and beginning to kick with the instep, and players are beginning to consider the "weight" of passes.

Tactical Guidelines:

• Beginning to get a sense of the game and its demands and possibilities; beginning to see soccer in terms of teamwork.
• Learning to relax with the ball and to protect it: "Try to get your body between the ball and that opponent who wants to take it from you!"
• An aggressive attitude about individual defending: "Press the ball when you lose it! Really hassle the ball possessor!"
• Spreading out and making the field big when your team has the ball. When your team does not have the ball, getting together a little, trying to protect the middle of the field and the space in front of your goal.
• Introduction of the concept of the "three main moments of soccer": our team has the ball, our team does not have the ball, and the transition between possession and loss of possession and the reverse.
• Players are cultivating a "What if?" or "What's next?" mentality.

Fitness Guidelines:

• Emphasis on balance and "playing on one leg" - differentiating between standing leg and playing leg.
• Nothing without the ball.

The Practice Environment:

• Reliance on the idea that "The game is the greatest teacher": virtually no coaching. Letting the kids play! Perhaps a 20 second comment every four or five minutes.
• High tolerance for mistakes and trial and error.
• No specializing by position.
• Practice is "Play Time".
• These years are all about coordinating the nervous system and the muscles.
• #3 or #4 ball, small goals.
• The week's practice is 60 minutes long.

Games:

• Equal playing time.
• Players play all the "positions".
• 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 or 5 v 5. Mass Youth Soccer favors 4 v 4.
• No stress at all on winning and losing. Total focus is on enjoyment and the future; virtually no mention of results.

U10- Nine and Ten Year-Olds

Technical Guidelines:

• Turning with the ball through 180 degrees, continued, with soles of feet, insides, and outsides - now, "More speed, bend your knees more, get your head up, don't get the ball stuck under you!"
• Practice changes of speed and direction with the ball. Guiding the ball at a 45 degree angle off a straight line: the technical rudiments of beating an opponent with a dribble.
• Perhaps some "Coerver training": dribbling and feinting moves, and these moves practiced under pressure.
• Stronger and more accurate instep kicks over 15 to 20 yards.
• The essentials of heading are introduced, but very little time spent on heading.
• Continuing to master receiving ground balls with the insides and outsides of the feet. With an accurate "first touch" getting into a running stride to dribble, or setting up a pass or a shot. Should be comfortable with the insides and outsides of both feet.
• "Driving" or "cruising" with the ball: running fast with the ball, generally in straight lines.
• Shielding the ball effectively, "sideways on" to the defender.
• Continuing to coordinate the nervous system and the muscles.
• Shooting accurately - keeping the ball in the frame of the goal - with the insides of the feet and the insteps.
• Front block tackle.

Fitness Guidelines:

• Nothing without the ball.
• No strength or endurance training.

Tactical Guidelines:

• Positioning goal side of attackers when you lose the ball: cutting off the path to the goal. Marking opponents tightly.
• Elemental idea of support: helping the player with the ball. "Form a pair" with the player on the ball; other players should stay away and make the field big.
• Don't wait for the ball - go to it!
• Playing away from pressure when you receive a ball - and move it at a new angle.
• Getting free of markers: "checking off" and creating space for yourself. "Make an area of green grass around you!"
• Wall pass, the give-and-go, the 1 - 2. Beginning to build up options for the two attackers in a two versus one situation.
• Lots of 1 v 1 confrontations to perfect timing in attack and defense. Continued emphasis on the "three main moments of soccer".
• Building up an aggressive attitude about shooting.
• Recognizing when you're under pressure and when you're not under pressure when you receive a pass.
• Beginning to establish a vocabulary of communication.
• Players should be looking up and around and away from the ball, on both attack and defense. No "ball watching".

The Practice Environment:

• Practice is a combination of "play time" and a learning environment.
• Some pressured play in confined spaces.
• No specializing by positions.
• #4 ball, small goals.
• The week's practice is 75 minutes long.

Games:

• Equal playing time.
• 4 v 4 or 5 v 5 or 6 v 6.
• Friendship tournaments; not more than three halves for any player in a weekend.
• Players play all the "positions".
• No stress at all on winning and losing. Total focus is on enjoyment and the future; virtually no mention of results.

U12 - Eleven and Twelve Year-Olds

• Technical Guidelines:
• Kicking with the inside and the outside of the instep.
• Chipping.
• Effective shielding from the immediate opponent.
• Disguise in dribbling: body feints, change of speed and direction, wrongfooting defenders.
• Learning three or four moves to use to beat a defender.
• Beginning of consistent practice of heading - regular, but not much.
• Side block tackle.
• Shoulder charging.
• Shooting bouncing balls: volleys and half-volleys.
• Now, in receiving balls, players consciously set up their second touch with their first touch.

Tactical Guidelines:

• Switching the direction of play or the point of attack.
• The overlap.
• Awareness of the different "climates" in the three thirds of the field: attack, midfield, defense.
• Continuing to focus on the "three main moments", with particular emphasis on transition.
• Understanding the difference between passing to feet and passing to space.
• Good body position when asking for the ball: facing field or sideways, watching ball and immediate opponent, etc.
• Making good choices about trying to penetrate or protecting the ball, based on whether or not there is pressure when you receive the ball. Consistently intelligent first touches upon receiving.
• Reading the body position of a defender: hips square or hips turned, has she or he committed to winning the ball or not?, etc.
• Understanding the difference between losing the ball and giving it away.
• Correct body position of defenders challenging for the ball: "turned, not square."
• Positioning "ball side" as well as "goal side" in marking.
• Second defender covering the first defender.
• Solid defensive understanding against one opponent and when confronted by two opponents.

Fitness Guidelines:

• Nothing without the ball.
• No strength or endurance training.

The Practice Environment:

• "Play time" and a learning environment.
• Some pressured play in confined areas; games of numbers up and numbers down; one of the best is 5 v 2.
• No specializing by positions.
• Duels at full speed: lots of 1 v 1 and 2 v 1 situations.
• 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 games at every practice.
• # 4 or # 5 ball; small goals.
• Emphasis still on technical development: the acquisition of skills.
• The week's practice is 75 to 90 minutes long.

Games:

• Equal playing time.
• 6 v 6 or 7 v 7. "Eleven after eleven": eleven players on a team after eleven years of age.
• Players play all the "positions".
• Friendship tournaments.
• Focus on enjoyment and the future: no stress on winning and losing.

U14 - Eleven and Twelve Year-Olds

Technical Guidelines:

• Passes - on the ground and in the air - are accurate over 20 to 30 yards, delivered with the correct weight and to the proper side of the receiver.
• Some "position specific" or functional technical training.
• Heading with a jump: accurate headers at the goal, effective defensive heading.
• Volleys and half volleys, shooting from crosses.
• Lots of shooting under pressure: always hitting the frame of the goal with hard shots, aggressive attitude about trying to hit the sides of the net.
• Fluid turns under pressure.
• Slide tackles.
• Beginning to swerve the ball.
• Receiving air balls as well as ground balls effectively.

Fitness Guidelines:

• Nothing without the ball.
• No strength or endurance work for its own sake.

The Practice Environment:

• A learning environment.
• Vigorous, pressured activities and intense, competitive games are the core of practice.
• Tactical problems to solve at every practice.
• Lots of 2 v 1 and 2 v 2 duels.
• 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 games at every practice.
• Practicing situations and restarts: corners, free kicks, penalty kicks,
  throw- ins.
• Lots of refined, incisive technical and tactical advice and suggestions from the coach.
• # 5 ball, regular goals.
• The week's practice is 90 minutes long.

Tactical Guidelines:

• Developing good verbal and non-verbal communication.
• Making good choices about when to pass, dribble, or shoot.
• Looking for the third attacker when in possession of the ball; solid grasp of playing in triangles.
• Exposure to various systems: 4-3-3, 4-4-2, 3-4-3, etc.
• Ways to create space for a teammate.
• Understanding offside.
• Appreciating variables: weather, size and condition of the field, etc.
• Awareness of the situation during a game: ahead, behind, tied, time left.
• Asking for the ball from the ball possessor at the right moment.
• Roles of the players on the field in the three "blocks": forwards, midfielders, and backs.
• Some "position specific" or functional tactical training.
• Takeovers and blind side runs (to go with wall passes and overlaps): ways for two attackers to outplay one defender.
• Secure tactical sense about shooting: generally to the far post as opposed to the near post, low rather than high, etc.
• A really aggressive, dynamic attitude about shooting.
• Using deception: looking one way, passing another, for example.
• Understanding defenders' priorities: intercept the ball, tackle at the moment your opponent receives the ball, etc.
• Defenders understanding how to "shepherd" attackers, how to push them wide.
• Roles of the first and second attackers and defenders in 2 v 2 situations: ideas for combination play, pressing, cover.
• Understanding defensive pressure, cover, and balance.
• Always thinking ahead!

Games:

• Beginning to specialize by position.
• Equal playing time.
• Stress on fair play, following the spirit of the game.
• Understanding the importance of good pre-game warm-up and post- game warmdown.
• Ability to adjust during game.