 Posted 29/01/2008 10:04:05
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| I am just over half way through a 10 week, very basic introduction, course for 5/6/7 year olds. I have a fair experience at coaching, and at this level/age. I know that balance is not great at this age and you do always have a fair bit of falling over! But I have one young lad who literally spends 75% of the time on the floor! I have discretly looked to see if he has one leg shorter than the other, or some other obvious reason, but there is none to see, and his parents put 'none' on the course application next to medical conditions. When he walks he is fine, but as soon as he is asked to increase speed he just goes. Put a ball near him and he trips over it constantly. I want to work with him but have tried everything I can think of (we are using size 3's so amongst other things I have had him just walking with a size 2, doing very gradual increases in speed etc) all with no luck. I want to have a quick word with his parents, who laugh about it on the sidelines, but want to go to them with something constructive. Any thoughts? Thank you.
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Posted 31/01/2008 14:00:40
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| Hi, I admit i do not have a great deal of experience coaching at this age group as its been about 5 years since i worked with kids of that age but i have watched plenty of games with such young players and i do always notice that co-ordination is a big issue. I personally though would work on gradual build up from walking to light jogging then sprinting on the spot. One aspect of running people overlook is the technique needed by correctly using your arms not only for balance but with co-ordination with sprinting. Also ball drills where the player with a dead ball takes it in turns with either foot to "step" on the ball. You could advance this with basic step overs etc just to get the player used to the technique needed. If they cant do it when the ball is still then they will always struggle in motion. When my team were younger (under 13's) i would work on the technique of passing without the ball just so they got used to the shape of the kicking and non kicking foot and the body shape, it may sound bizare but this would just be four or five minutes within the warm up and it does help loosen up aswell. I certainly wouldnt give up though as once he loses that aspect which i am sure he will he could develop into as good a player as anybody else on the team.
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Posted 01/02/2008 10:09:52
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| hi, good one.. and passing without the ball and then with the ball is also good.. physical competence before with the ball.. regards, steven
Phuabh
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Posted 20/02/2008 05:14:41
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| I have had my share of some very clumsy kids... some because of less physical prowess and others who just like to be on the ground. For the less adapted physical player I have found that they do better with larger balls not smaller balls. A size 2 will cause him to trip more often not less... If you give the lad a size 5 ball a few things will happen- 1. He will not fall as much 2. The ball will hit his leg as well as his foot when he uses it. This will force him to keep the ball in front of him. 3. If you have him do toe taps it will cause him to over accentuate his leg movement to get his foot on top of the ball and that is the type of movement he needs. One of the best coordination training devises I have use for 25 years is a very small flat cone. Have him play a game where he has to dance around the cone. He starts by stepping over it- then hops over it forward- he steps over it sideways- he then hops like a bunny all around it... be creative. Leg strength will increase and coordination will sore. One last thing.... enjoy him...and take some video... it may be priceless someday.
kidcoach
25 years and still learning!
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Posted 25/02/2008 13:27:20
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| hello, I coach our clubs Nursery sessions every week kids 5-7 years old. As you say, balance isn't great in all the kids, and they do vary quiet a lot from kids who cannot run properly to some with quiet well developed balance and coordination. Hopefully your sessions contain some games not involving a ball, but designed to improve apptitude, like the dancing round the cones, stick in the mud, bib tag and anything else to encourage running, turning, balance and coordination. The other thing I have found is that with groups of kids, there is an element of peer copying, some kids seem to enjoy falling over, we had a trend which grew and died out over the course of about 10 sessions to fall over as you kicked the ball, started with a couple of kids grew to the point where almost everyone did it and died out again, once they realised that in games no one stopped, and they were conceding goals. If the lad in question is not distressed or concerned about falling over I wouldn't worry too much at this stage, keep doing exercises and he'll hopefully catch up at some point, as long as he's having fun and is safe then he'll developin his own time. Best wishes Mark
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Posted 14/05/2008 19:49:04
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| I coach two nine year old boys teams in Davenport, IA, and used to have many kids who had trouble with balancing themselves on the ball. I have seen coaches who don't have the patience to accept that fact that the children need a lot of work, and chalk the poor child up to hopeless. Not saying this is you, but when a child is bad at something the best thing you can do is provide games that constantly work on their flaw. Don't forget to make it fun because if you push the player into doing something they don't want to or don't like, they will develop a hate for the game, and might fall down and not want to get up until the game is over. Here is what I would do. I would set up enough 5x5 grids for all of your players. Put 2 players and one ball in each grid. Have them play 1v1 keep away, this will get the players many touches on the ball, under pressure and will force them to learn how to move the ball under constant pressure. Coaching points: Shielding, Soul of the foot ball movement, Shoulder to shoulder contact, Defensive Coaching Points: use the sideline to your advantage, tackling, defensive stance, forcing mistakes with pressure.
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