Customer Reviews

The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching 6-and-Under Soccer

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A brand new soccer coach facing six very wild and unruly 6 year-old boys hoping I could teach them the basics of the game of soccer. No easy task. A key concept here is that we need to give very young kids the chance to try new things out, develop their confidence and have fun so they keep coming back - and that this is far more important than winning. This book was a lifesaver my first year. It was rained on, stepped on and dragged in and out of the equipment bag many times during the season. But under all that muck and abuse are some very creative ideas to get the kids engaged while also teaching them basic skills like dribbling, passing and defending. Great book.

Let me start by saying that I know the game of soccer and am familiar with the rules of the game...BUT when coaching kids under 6 you can throw pretty much all you know out the window! This book is a great reference to coaching the little ones. It gives great insight into the do's and don'ts of coaching young children and offers lots of games as an alternative to "drills" that your Kindergartener or 1st grader will love. They learn the basics of ball handling and they don't even realize it! It walks you through step by step the first 6 practices and your first game day. It also gives you minute by minute sample practices and example letters for parents regarding the season and what your ultimate goal is. This is my first season coaching my 5 year old and this book has been essential to me.
Shelly

I am a first time coach and knew next to nothing about soccer. This book has been a great help with my under 7 team, most of whom haven't played before. It's focus on fun games based on ball control makes a lot of sense. The kids are really enjoying their training and the other parents are very happy with what we're doing. I also think there's a lot in this book for the experienced coach who hasn't worked with kids this young.

As a newly recruited soccer coach for a 6-7 year old group, I needed a book that was well organized and gave me the information I needed in a concise way. This book covers the basics from start of the practice season to the end of the game season. The book is short, easy to read and has great insight into the best way to teach this young group--get everyone involved and have fun while the players learn. There are a lot of good suggestions for drills that keep this age group entertained but still allows you to teach. It packs a lot of information into it's small size.

I love this book. It's easy to read with fun games for the kids to play at practice and good tips on dealing with the parents. Good job David and Scott. It really is all about having fun for the kids at this age.

I have two soon to be 6 year old nieces who have been playing soccer for a year or so. So even though the title is The Baffled Parent's Guide to Coaching 6-and-Under Soccer it works for Aunts as well. It is an easy read with good practice plans/goals.

This was a great support as I coached my son's K-2 soccer team - the games and skills were easy to implement, the practice plans were easy to adjust and use to plan practices. The only thing I struggled with was some of the 'violence' if you will in the games and scenarios, these days in schools even as the soccer coach it is a bit hard to encourage the Elmer Fudd game where the hunters shoot the ball at the rabbits, I get the theory but in todays schools I had to adjust some of the scenarios. Otherwise my kiddos really loved the play atmosphere of practice and LOVED coming to get going on the fun 'games' that teach skills...

This is an excellent purchase for anyone taking on the task of coaching U6 and under. I am a second year U5 coach and had no clue where to begin. The book addressed most of my concerns. If you are new at soccer or have been around for a while - coaching 3,4 and 5 year olds is a far different beast that your older kids. Great book - lots of personal stories that will make you laugh and most of all encouraging you as a coach to have fun with this age group. Because it is all about fun for U6 and under.

My husband and I decided to coach our 5 year old son's soccer team this fall, because he had a pretty negative experience with his last volunteer coach and we wanted to make sure this soccer season was more fun. Neither of us had ever coached before, but this book really saved our bacon. It helped confirm what we already believed, that soccer for this age group should be about having fun, learning skills and building friendships, not about competition. The drills in this book are all presented in the form of fun games, and the kids loved them! As a result, we had very few behavior problems with our kids, tons of enthusiasm, and almost 100% attendance at every practice and game. Coincidentally, we also won every game we played, even though we didn't focus on the competitive aspects of the sport. I think we won because our kids were so happy and excited about playing. Their parents all expressed appreciation and gratitude to us. In short, this book is golden... buy it!

Fantastic book!!! If you're looking to coach a young team, then buy this book!

I'm a first time coach for 5 year old girls team. This helped me better understand how to teach them. Just in the second practice, the girls started to get a good handle on dribbling. Had our first game yesterday and they really did great handling the ball/scoring goals. The practice schedules in the back are very good and fast paced. I recommend even cutting them down to 8-minutes each, as there's always something that delays the breaks.