U6 Season Guide
· 3v3
· 10 min warm up. Two-16 min ½'s with a 5 min ½-time.
· Throw-ins added. Feet need to be planted. They must be behind the line and the ball must come from behind their head.
· Goal kicks, retreating for the other team to the ½, position players near the touchline to play the ball wide out of the back.
· Get the ball to the sideline away from your own goal. Verbiage of “out and up.”
· The referee will not chase the ball. Players need to retrieve the ball out of bounds and hand it to the referee for the restart. “Hitter’s getters.”
· Foot skills now include rolling the ball left and right, forwards, and backwards.
· Where is the kick going? Big kicks and little kicks. There is a difference in power needed and the reason for the kick and how close you are.
· Shots are with the laces; the side of the foot is a pass. No toe-balls.
· Get the ball out of the bunch by teaching the kids to be wide on the attack and in the middle when defending.
· Corner kick defending
U6 Season Guide
Week 1
Out of bounds rules (throw-ins): The new rule for this season is throw-ins for a sideline out-of-bounds and goal kicks for a goal line out-of-bounds. Break players into two lines and pair them up. Have them practice throw-ins back and forth. Progress to breaking players into two teams and have them practice throwing the ball in to start gameplay. Set up two goals along the sideline. The attacking team will be throwing their ball in by the defender’s net. If they don’t get a good throw in accomplished the other team can try to score a goal quickly.
Goal kicks: set up mock goal kicks. Have two teams. The defending team must line up on the ½ line of the field and the attacking team has a player make a pass to their own teammate to start play. The attacking team is just trying to get the ball over the ½ yard line, and the defending team is trying to steal the ball. As soon as one of those two things happens switch the team doing the kick and the player taking it.
Corner kicks: Split up into two teams. One team takes the corner, and the other team lines up on the 4 points of the goal box. The attacking team tries to make a pass to their player’s, then tries to score a goal. The defending team tries to win possession and get the ball out of the playing area. Reset and switch the teams so now the attacking team defends.
Week 2
Races around cones: Set up a cone for every player halfway out on the field. They race to see who can dribble out and around, back to the end-line the fastest. Progress to having teams and have them relay race.
Colored cones: Place different colored cones or discs in 4 corners. Call out the color the players should run to. Pick up the pace of calling the colors. Progress to having two teams and they race to the cones. First team to have all the players touch their ball to the cone wins. Let players call out the color to get involved.
Cops and robbers: Robbers try to dribble past cops who are protecting jewels (cones) behind them. Robbers must dislodge a jewel with their ball to bring it to coach.
Week 3
Rondo with cones: Put cones in a large circle. The number of cones is one greater than the number of players. One player starts with the ball. Call someone's name, and they run to the open cone. The player with the ball passes to them. Give every player an opportunity. Progressions: Put two extra cones (instead of one) and the player can choose where to run and the passer must pay attention to where the player is running.
2V3 small sided games: have two goals on the side that 3 defend and one goal on the side 2 defend. Play 2V3 and rotate the team of 2.
Week 4
Dribbling through gates: Players try to dribble through the numbered gates and return to the starting box.
Passing through gates: Set up gates (two discs about 2 feet apart) for players randomly around the field. They dribble to a gate, pass through the gate, but run around the outside to get to the ball. They see how many gates they can dribble through. They do not get a point if they walk through the gate, only the ball can go through. Progress to players working as teams of two. They pass through a gate to their teammate who then picks another gate to pass back through to their teammate.
It tag: Have a designated area. One player is it and tries to kick another player’s ball with theirs to tag them, so they become IT. All other players try to avoid getting tagged.
Week 5
3V1 Keep away: 20’ by 20’ set up with cones. One team of red tries to keep the ball away from a blue player. Rotate the blue player.
Soccer gauntlet: One defender in the middle and the other players try to make it from one side of the field to the other. Add more players in the middle to make it harder. Players are not allowed outside the lines. I also like adding a goal on each side they can score a goal in as the go back and forth.
Pirates of the Pugg: Play 6 v 4. The "Pirates" (Red) with the ball attack the Pugg goal in the middle of the circle. The defenders (blue) aim to win the ball and score in the Pugg goal themselves.
Week 6
Attack the line: Two teams lined up about 10-15 yards apart with either cones behind them or a goal. 1 less ball than the number of players. All the balls in the middle in a group or in a line. On your "go" signal, teams race to the middle, and try to use the "drag back" move to win all the balls to their goal. Remind them that some of them can go for balls and some can try to steal from the other team. They continue trying to win until all balls are in the goal or touching their cone. Line them up and do it again, taking away a ball each time until only two remain.
Capture the flag: Have a field set up with a cone at each end as a goal. Put a pinnie in the cone. Break the players up into two teams. Using their ball, they try to capture the flag by knocking over the other team’s cone to retrieve the flag (pinnie). They must play defense and offense at the same time. Only a ball can knock over a cone. Don’t let players stand on the cone. They must go attack the other team or be aggressive in their defense.
Week 7
Passing before shooting: Small games where they must pass before shooting on net. Start with the teams having to make one pass after gaining possession to shoot on net, then progress to having them make 2 passes before shooting.
Freeze Sharks and Minnows: Two defenders try to kick out other players balls from the designated area, and they need to freeze if their ball is kicked away, but if another player that is a minnow touches them with their ball they can retrieve their ball and are thawed.
Week 8
Split field teams of three: 2 goals on each side. Yellow team, blue team, and green team. Green team can play both sides and score anywhere. Yellow and blue can not cross the center and only score on their side. Green can score anywhere. Players should spread out to receive passes near an open goal.
Alternate Activities
Triangle passing drill: 2 players around 3 discs making a triangle. Players receive the ball with one foot and make the pass with the other. They run to the open cone in front of them after making a pass in the opposite direction.
1st touch and passing: 2 players. One with a cone in front of them, who is the one working on the skill. The other is just making straight passes back. Start with one touch alternating. The player with the disc receives it on the right of the cone and one touch passes back with the right foot, then receives a pass on the left of the cone and 1 touch passes back with their left. Then 2 touch insides. They receive the pass with the right foot, move it past the cone with the inside of their foot and pass back with their left. They keep switching sides. Then touch, roll, and pass. They receive the ball with control, roll it to the other side of the cone, then use the other foot to pass back.
Pirates of the Pugg: Play 6 v 4. The "Pirates" (Red) with the ball attack the Pugg goal in the middle of the circle. The defenders (blue) aim to win the ball and score in the Pugg goal themselves.
Camp Town Races: Line up all the players in the middle of the field (in 2 teams). They each have a ball. On the whistle, one player from each team dribbles to the end their team is facing, shoots the ball into goal, gets the ball out of goal, runs back, and sits down to show the coach they scored. If a player shoots and misses, they go to the back of his/her team’s line. First team to have all their players sit down wins.
Find a Friend on the Outside: Players inside a circle pass to players outside a circle. They receive the pass back and look for a different outer player to pass to.
Guard the castle: Build a castle out of cones in the middle of discs. Players try to knock over the castle of the other team.
Keep Away Passing & Receiving: Play odd numbers. 2 blue players act as defenders, while the rest of the players (reds) in the circle will pass around to keep the ball away from these defenders. A red switches role with a blue if a blue steals a pass or the red passes it out.
Passing name game: To play the name game, the player with the ball passes to a player. Before the receiving player receives the pass, they must yell the name of the player they are going to pass to. Upon the next player receiving the ball, they must yell the name of the player they are going to pass to. *Players cannot pass back to the player they received the ball from*
Sharks and Minnow: This is called King of the Ring on the BWSA website. Sharks and minnows start at the progression of having a player without a ball come from outside the designated area to steal every other player's ball.
Figure 8 dribbling: Set up cones about 10 feet apart. 2 cones for each player. Have them dribble around the cones making a figure 8 pattern. Have them try to use just the right foot and then just the left foot. Progress to having them do it backwards.
Jam Packed Soccer Running with the Ball: Player’s dribble around a circle and follow coaches commands like jog, run faster, reverse direction, or cross the circle. They must avoid other players.
Agility Obstacle course: Have a line of discs, discs in a V, agility poles, gates, etc. (have fun with the set-up), and the ladders. Player’s serpentine dribble through the line of discs, pass through gates, dribble around corner cones. Progress to races through. This needs to be only two obstacles. It is hard for players to do more than one thing.
Zig Zag Passing Race Game: Players stand on zigzag laid out cones. 2 teams race to see how fast they can make the passes down the line.
Intentional Free Play: Let the players play games. Keep the teams small. Maybe uneven teams or something different to hit, or go through other than a net.