Under 6 & Under 8 Summer Leagues Week 2--7/6/2014

This week we warmed up as a Group...

Learned about Substitutes and Players, and were reminded about the Referee.

You can see the disappointment when we are not playing soccer, but part of this program aims to teach about the game.



Then the Game Kicks in for the League 2--Under 6 Stars.  These faces tell the stories of love.

Each week is an experiment until we can find the best arrangement to serve these players. There were two fields this week, and they ran simultaneously.  However the league is moving to a 2 game model after the World Cup Break.  We will have a few changes when we play next on July 20.
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 No Training July 8// No Games Sunday July 13--Watch the World Cup

 Next Match/Game Day July 20
3:00-3:45 League 2 Players Ages 3, 4, 5
3:45-4:30 League 1 Players Ages 5, 6, 7

Training Calendar to be announced this week

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League 2 Game

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I am looking for a few moments during the 45 minutes each team will be out there, where the chaos subsides a bit, and we can learn.

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League 1 Learning about Goalkeeper Distribution

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Watch the World Cup at Home in the privacy of your own dome--
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/#type/upcoming/startDate/20140713/

• 7/13
  2:30 PM EDT
  2014 FIFA World Cup Final (Final) (2014 FIFA World Cup) Closed captioning available
  ESPN3

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These two girls run the field. They are Players to watch! Vlada and Larkin!!!

Mayer is going to be a--Relevant- Real- Deal- --Player. Carter had a great day in goal.

These faces tell the stories for these players who love the game, and this blogpost is dedicated to them from someone who love it too.

Soccer Friends,

Here is the blogpost telling the story for this week.

http://howtosoccerblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/under-6-under-8-summer-leagues-week-2.html#.U7qOBLG8BVA

Keep sending me pics and videos and tell me what you and your child have to report. I can use every shred of usable evidence from these days in the blog coverage.  Even if what you have to report is not glowing, if it helps tell the story from your perspective, I am interested in hearing it and maybe I can use it too.

We are taking 1 Week off until the World Cup is over.  We may start back training on Tuesdays, but we may need to find another night. Look for an update regarding training.

I am changing the Sunday format so I can be on the field for each game.  The blog explains the new schedule.   The Parent Assistants have done a great job, but I do not want to overwork them.  I also feel the highest level of instruction happens when the game is focused.  So I am looking for a few moments during the 45 minutes each team will be out there, where the chaos subsides a bit, and we can learn.

I hope to be blogging this week about the World Cup and youth soccer, so look for a few other How To Soccer Posts.  Also How To Soccer has its own YouTube account now with 0 subscribers.  Be the first on your block to watch how we "knock" here--http://goo.gl/9BG9Er

Under 8 League Sunday NUmber 1

From a short distance away it looked like any other game, on any other Sunday. But the closer you got, the easier you could make out that this was the main event: the first soccer game experience for many of these Orange and Green shirted angels.  This is the only photo How To Soccer had time to snap before the field was buzzing with a match.

We started by taking a knee near the touchline.   The referee showed his whistle and explained that it meant when to stop and when to start. Some players knew what a Referee was because they had played in the Summer Soccer Tournament Series 1.


We talked about teams and colors and goals and coaches, then we started with the League 1 players in a 4v4 arrangement, and had no goalkeepers.  Before we kicked off, the referee arranged the players and talked about what each position should be doing.


At some point, we put the League 2  players on the same field and we had a busy game.  Someone picked up the ball, so we introduced goalkeepers into the game.  We allowed the goalkeepers some minutes to get dressed--gloves, different color shirt, etc.--then we played.

The Green team attacked and Arbor made a save.  The Orange team attacked and Eli made a save. The Green Team attacked again and Azrael--who informed the referee and made a change during active play-- made a save and punted the ball down field.


Emerson scored, and Vlada, and Mayer, maybe Larkin too.


After the game we all held together one pile of the green and orange shirts --everybody's hands holding up every players' shirts.  Then we kinda made that stack of hands with shirts bubble and on the count of three we threw the shirts in the air and all yelled "soccer!!!!"

Next Tuesday, July 1 at 6:30 we have training, but the Tuesday night trainings will have to get moved starting the second week of July because Coach Tad will be doing the Plains Under 6 Soccer Program.
http://howtosoccerblog.blogspot.com/2013/04/referee-training-seminar-dayton-ohio.html

The schedule will be updated at the Youth League Page at www.athenssocceracademy.com.

 https://sites.google.com/a/athenssocceracademy.com/www/youthleague