Small Fry Info

For small fry we play 3 v 3. The goal here is to introduce the young players to game of soccer. For the most part we just want them to play. Try to use parents to help just keep the ball in and try not to stop play. We do NOT use Goal Keepers at this age! The goals are very small and we want to encourage all kids and we want to all players to have a chance to score. Please do not allow players to stand in the goal. If a player naturally tries to stop an opposing player from scoring that is great, but we don’t want player to stand in the goal the entire game as a keeper would. I really want to stress that all coaches should be controlling the scrimmages. Remember our goal at this age is always FUN first! Want them to have fun, get interested in the game and create an environment that they want to return to each season. Then gradually and discretely we will teach and develop them into great soccer players. For the most part it has been my observation that a majority of the players prefer the practice sessions over the scrimmages. I believe this is due to the fact that the practices are all fun games and there is not that much competition as there is in the scrimmage. I also think it has something to do with the fact that some kids are more aggressive than others and some kids are bigger than others. I would like to ask all coaches to please try and even out the teams. When you split up your team to scrimmage on both fields please make sure they are as even as possible. Then during the scrimmages please make sure you control the more aggressive kids. I don’t want to teach them to not be aggressive, but we want to make sure no one gets hurt. We have had problems in the past with some kids pushing and knocking other kids over. We want to make sure they play the ball and if some players are too aggressive all coaches should step in and address the situation. Also if some stronger players seem to control the entire game and seem to do all the scoring, teach them to pass before shooting. I have a couple of players like that and once they score a bunch of times I ask them if they can help the other kids on our team score. Another thing I do to help the shy or timid kids get more involved is if the ball goes out of bounds I throw it in and make sure it goes to those kids. Please remember there scrimmages are designed for players to be introduced to the game and gradually get used to the competition. We do not keep score! We also want to incourage all players. Not just the ones on our team. I always make it a point to cheer on all the players during the scrimmage both on my team and the opposing team.

For Advanced small fry we play 6 v 6. Everything that I mentioned above applies as for the type of play and the role of the coach. The only difference is this is were we introduce goal keepers and we will start to learn more rules of the game like throw-ins, goal kicks, etc.

We have also had a couple of issues with a couple of players disrupting the sessions. I would ask the coaches to try and address the players directly first. If that does not work, talk to the parents who should be on the sidelines during the entire session. If the parents are not there please talk to them and explain that we have a rule that a parent is required to stay during the session. I do realize that some parents have multiple players on different fields. The point we don’t want the parents just dropping the kids off and leaving.

If anyone has any questions or issues with all of this please contact me at any time. Also please meet me early before the session starts or contact me on the Friday before if you want me to stay after the session and I will make arrangements to stay.

Again I thank you all for volunteering. I have had many compliments on our program. I have been very happy with what I have seen in first two weeks. When ever I look up at all the fields I always seen tons of kids moving and touching the ball.

Let’s keep up the good work. Thanks Again.

HYSA Small Fry Coordinator