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U6 Soccer ‘Drills’: Fun Soccer Games for Under 6’s

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Not too much changes from coaching U5’s to then progressing to coaching U6’s.

You’ll still focus on fun, their ABC’s, basic ball skills and some ball familiarity work. There is however some slight changes I personally use in my coaching, that you can steal and test for yourself.

For U5’s I usually stick to one sized ball and allow the children to just focus on that. As they progress into the U6 age group and beyond I will start to introduce other sized balls such as;

• Tennis Balls
• Small Spongy Balls
• Beach Balls
• Reaction Balls

Now, you might be asking do I actually get the kids to play soccer with these balls? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Let me explain…

I may, in one training session decide to use tennis balls within a dribbling game to hone their focus on a smaller sized ball. This has all sorts of benefits such as:

• Improving their focus
• Improving their close ball control
• Progressing the game or activity
• + a whole host of other reasons

…but, that doesn’t mean I then get them to dribble with a beach ball sized ball. Sometimes, I might use different sized balls to work on their throwing and catching. These kinds of activities and games, while not requiring the use of their feet, develop other fundamental skills such as;

• Throwing
• Catching
• Ball Flight Perception
• And other skills depending on how you set the drill up

Again, these are some variations I start to add in with this age group but the fundamentals of; FUN, ABC’s, Basic Ball Control and Ball Familiarity are still the core topics of focus.

What to Expect from Under 6’s

Pretty much the same as before; short attention spans and whole lot of noise and laughter! And again, as always – enjoy it!

Your Priorities Coaching Under 6’s

Approach your coaching in a light hearted, patient and balanced way. You’ll use general sporting skills and combine these with specific soccer skills to give your players a solid foundation to build upon.

Remember, soccer is NOT the priority at this age but it IS the tool.

Main Topics of Focus

As your focus should be on building a foundation for their later years (U7’s, U8’s and U9’s) the topics you coach should be a progression on what they have already been doing:

• FUN
• Building Relationships and Making Friends
• ABC’s (Agility, Balance, Coordination): That help them develop strong foundational physical attributes E.g: Lots of Jumping, Running, Hopping, Skipping
• Basic Ball Skills
• Ball Familiarity: Using activities that require them to develop both their hand/eye and foot/eye coordination skills

U6 Soccer Drills, Games and Activities

Your players will likely be of different abilities and skill ranges. Because of this you can use soccer games and activities from both the U5’s soccer drills guide and the U7’s guide to progress and regress your practices. Similarly, the soccer games below can be brought up or down an age group too.