1. ITAA Micro Soccer Welcome to Indian Trail Athletic Association’s Micro Soccer Program. I want to take a few moments to discuss our Micro (3-4 year olds) Program. We are excited about trying a new concept with our youngest soccer players this season. The basis of our philosophy is focused on fun and learning necessary soccer skills. As coaches and parents, we encourage you to participate, have fun, and be silly. The kids will have fun and the memories you make will be priceless. Without trying to sound like a list of rules, here are some of the concepts that are important to us: 1.HAVE FUN! - I can’t say it enough. Kids won’t be engaged and won’t want to come to practice if they aren’t having fun. The fun starts with the coaches and parents. 2.No lines – every game we play during practice involves every child having a ball. Most practice games are designed to let the kids go at their own pace as they accomplish the task at hand. 3.Encourage every child – not every child will be the next Messi or Mia Hamm, but every player will do their absolute best if encouraged and given praise. Don’t be shy with the high fives, pat on the backs, great jobs, or any other public acknowledgements when a child does something good. For one child it could be great dribbling. For another it could be that they learned not to use their hands. 4. Individual Ball Skills - the practice games we play will focus on dribbling, ball skills, defense, and shooting. At this age, we want to teach fundamental skills that the players will build on as they progress. By the end of the season, we would like every child to be able to dribble with both feet, speed dribble control dribble, complete inside foot and outside foot turn arounds, shoot the ball, tackle (simply taking the ball from another player), and clear the ball on defense. Notice I didn’t mention passing. Based on our own coaching experience and reading, individual ball skills are the way to go with the 3-4 year olds. Passing will come, just later. 5.Play fast – all of our practice games are designed to encourage fast play by adding “pressure”. This is accomplished by having races, adding traffic, or timing the activity. Traffic will also naturally teach players to keep their heads up when dribbling. 6.If it isn’t working, fix it – if a practice game isn’t working and the kids are bored or don’t understand it, the activity needs to go. We try to keep the game simple and easy to set up but sometimes the best laid plans just don’t work out. We’re OK with that. It happens. We’ll change it up or play something different. I think that is everything. If not, I’m sure we will figure it out later. In all honesty these core principles aren’t something we just pulled out of thin air. There are a lot of great resources out there we have drawn from. Two of the most influential are SoccerHelp.com and TheChallengerWay.com. We encourage you to spend some time on these websites. There is great information for teaching soccer at all levels on these websites. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. I appreciate any feedback and look forward to hearing from you. Thanks, Bryce Freeman 72befree@sbcglobal.net 817-233-8902

2. Camp Town RaceClean Your Yard This is a race from one end line to the goal on the far end line then back to the goal on the original end line. Each player dribbles their ball to the far end of the field and scores a goal then retrieves their ball and returns to score a goal at the starting end of the field. Coaching points – quickest way to the goal is straight, speed dribbling (place ball ahead and run to it). Progressions – right foot only, left foot only, alternate feet, coach to give mild pressure near mid-field. Using cones, make a narrow “no go” zone. Players are not allowed to enter that area. Place more balls on the field than players. The more the better. Each team’s objective is to “clean their yard: of balls. If one team can get all the balls into their opponent's yard, reset and restart. Coaching points – clearing the ball from the defensive end of the field, closest to the ball wins the ball. Progression – widen the “no go” zone.

3. Balls in Circle RaceTurn Around Place as many soccer balls in the center circle as possible (many more than there are kids). Divide into 2 teams. Each team starts at their end line. The object is for each player to run to the circle and get a ball and return it to their own goal. Players may then return to the circle to get another ball. The game continues until all balls have been taken from the center circle. Coaching points – speed dribbling, turning the ball. Progressions – left foot only, right foot only, switch feet. Coaches stand at opposite ends of the field (25-30 yards apart). Players dribble from coach to coach. As a player approaches a coach, the coach calls the player by name and tells them to turn around. The players turns the ball and dribbles to the other coach, who in turn calls then by name and tells them to turn around. Coaching points – listening, dribbling through traffic, turn around techniques. Progressions – inside foot turns, outside foot turn, drag backs. Coach

4. Shark and Minnows Create a circle or square (fish tank) with cones for the minnows to dribble in. The sharks runs around the outside of the fish tank with the coach yelling “Shark’s getting hungry!” When coach yells “Shark attack!” the shark enters the tank and has 30 seconds to get as many balls out of the tank as possible. If a minnow’s ball leave the tank they must retrieve their ball and complete 5 toe taps or tic tocs before they can re-enter. No knock out rules. After 30 seconds change sharks. Everyone should get a chance to be shark. Coaching points – dribbling in traffic, defense, foot skills. Progressions – increase or decrease the size of the tank for more or less traffic, add an extra shark. Dribble Across the Square Create a square with cones (approx 10 yds x 10 yds). Line players up on all 4 sides of the square. On “Go” players dribble to the other side of the square, turn and go back. Tell players to be sure not to touch anyone else’s ball and not to run into each other. Each turn scores 1 point. Go until someone gets 10 points. Have players keep their own score and try to beat the score each time they play. Coaching points – dribbling in traffic, shielding, turns. Progressions – increase or decrease the size of the square of more or less traffic. Less traffic teaches them to burst to space when available. Add specific turns to be completed or dribbling w/ specific feet or parts of feet. 10

5. Freeze Tag Just like the game you played growing up, except everyone has a ball with the exception of one player. Everyone must stay in the square. If the player that is “IT” tags you, you must freeze until someone else with a ball touches your ball with theirs. Each game should go for maybe 1 minute. Everyone should have a turn to be “IT.” Coaching points – dribbling in traffic and under pressure, keeping your head up. Progression – increase or decrease the size of the square. “Pass” through a frozen person’s legs to unfreeze them. Marbles Create a square or circle with cones. Each player will dribble in the square w/ a ball. One extra ball of a different or unique color ( The Marble) is placed in the square. The object of the game is for the players to use their ball to kick the The Marble out of the square. The coach can roll the marble back into the game area each time it is kicked out. Coaching points – passing or shooting to a target. Progression – add multiple Marbles, left foot only, right foot only. 10

6. Kick the Coach All players have a ball. Coach is “IT”. Coach runs around inside the game area while the players try to use their ball to his the coach. If the players hit the coach 3 times, coach must do his/her best impression of an animal. The animal should be decided by the players before each round. Sometimes, the animal chases the kids a little also. For example, a bee might try to sting each child. The kids will ask to play this one every practice and coaches will get in shape! Kick the Cones Set up several cones (more than you have players) in a random manner. Each player dribbles their ball and tries to shoot the ball to knock the cones over. Coach picks up cones as they are knocked over. It is a race between the team and coach. Can coach keep cones up or will the players knock the all down. The player win if all the cones are knocked over. Coaches might want to switch out or double up. Kids love it, coaches will get in shape! 20

7. Dribble Around The Cone Relay Set 2 lines of cones up approx 10 yds apart. Divide players into teams of 2. Each team starts at cone A. On “Go”, the first players for each team dribbles to and around cone B then passes back to the 2 nd player on the team. Player 1 runs back to cone A while Player 2 dribbles to cone B and passes back to Player 1. Each team continues to do this until 1 team has completed 10 passes. Have each team keep their score and try to beat their score each time they play. Coaching points – speed dribbling, turns, passing, receiving, moving towards the pass to receive. Progressions – increase distance, left foot, right foot, specific types of turns (inside foot, outside foot). Cone Soccer Set up 2 lines of cones about 10 yards apart with ample space between. Put one player at each cone. Each player on side A should start with a ball. Player A is playing 1-on-1 with Player B. The object is to knock over each other’s cone. There are no out of bounds. There should be no “goal keeping” in front of a cone. The defender must play the ball. After a cone is reset, both players return to their cones and restart. Coaching points – 1-on-1 dribbling and defense. Progressions – match players of similar skill level. 10 A B B A

8. Red Light – Green Light All players start on one end of the field with a ball. The object is to get to coach first. When coach turns his back to the players and yells “Green Light”, the players dribble as fast as possible towards coach. When coach yells “Red Light” each player must stop and control their ball before coach turns around. If players are caught moving or not in control of their ball they must return to the starting line. Cops and Robbers All robbers start with a ball at the starting line. The cop starts, without a ball, at the finish line. On “Go” the robbers try to dribble their ball from the starting line to the finish line while being careful to not cross the sideline. The cop tries to stop the robbers and kick their balls across the sideline. If a robber’s ball goes across the sideline, the robber becomes a cop also. The game begins again with the left over robbers and all the new cops at opposite ends. The game ends after the last robber has been caught. That robber is the cop first in the next game. Try to rotate so that each person gets to be the cop first. 25

9. Cross the Bridge All players start on one side of the “river” with a ball. On “Go”, all players must dribble their ball across the bridge. Careful not to let your ball go in the “river” because there are ball eating “crocodiles” (coaches) in the river and they will take your ball. Once call players are across, have the players come back across the other way. Progressions – make the bridge narrower, divide players up into 2 teams and have them start on opposite sides, add a troll to the bridge. Egg Hunt Place numerous balls on the field in front of the goal (preferably twice as many as you have players or more). Players start on the end line on either side of the goal. On “Go” all players run to an “egg” (ball) and put it in the “basket” (goal). They can not take an egg from another player. Time them to see how fast they can get all the balls into the net. Progression – shooting with left foot, shooting with right foot, divide into 2 teams and let them try to beat each other’s time.