Gr1/Gr2 Overview
FUNdamental Gr1 (formerly U7)
Our U7 clinics are still focused on FUNdamental skills with the introduction of some more ‘soccer’ specific activities. We use 1v1’s to introduce concepts of attacking and defending. Players will experiment with a range of new skills and concepts while we still look to fully engage all players with a low player to ball ratio and highly dynamic activities. Play at this stage of development will still look a little chaotic and coaches should remember these players want to have fun above anything else. These session plans should help you facilitate a fun learning environment in which children will develop technical and psycho-social skills.
The Beautiful Game Gr2 (formerly U8)
Fun is still the motivating factor for the u8 age group. Children are now beginning to recognize the ‘team’ and so we can start to consider team shape and some general positioning.We want to encourage creativity as players become more able to manipulate the ball. Individual skills, attacking and defending techniques are emphasized for players to enjoy discovering how and what works for themselves. This age group is the first time we pay special attention to coaching correct technique. While players have previously been going through general movement education and physical literacy, we can now delve deeper into how players perform certain soccer specific techniques. You can refer to the Coaches Guides for help in coaching ‘correct technique’ to the U8 player. These session plans should facilitate a learning of some general positions which should, for the first time, create an environment which seems a little more organized.
The session plans have been created to keep a positive and challenging environment for these children. Keeping an open mind to the positive effect these sessions will have is important,the game will not yet look like the ‘adult game’ of soccer.