Characteristics of players ages 6 and 7:

Six, seven and eight-year-old players are a bit more compliant than their U6 counterparts. They will be able to follow 2 or 3 step instructions and are starting to have a good understanding about what it means to play a "game". They are also starting to cooperate more with their teammates. In fact, they now will recognize that they even have teammates by the fact that they occasionally, and I mean occasionally, will pass the ball to a teammate, on purpose. Often, they will repeat the phrase "I can't do that!", but, will quickly run to you to show you that they can, even when they only think that they can. Some other things that you can expect to happen during a season with this age group are:

· There will be at least 200-300 falls during the season, but, now they will usually pick themselves back up.

· The puddle in front of the goal is still too tempting to resist.

· Some of the girls are a lot tougher than the boys.

· They will still want to wear a training bib,  even when the color is identical to their shirt.

· It will be impossible to remember who is whose best friend as you try to make up teams.

· Their attention span is a not at a "competitive" stage

· They are inclined towards small group activities.

· They are always in motion: scratching; blinking; jerking; rocking....

· They are easily bruised psychologically. They will remember negative comments for a long time. Shout praise. Give "hints".

· They want everybody to like them.

· They are developing physical confidence.

· They are starting to imitate older players or sports heroes  they want the same "gear" as them.

· They lack sense of pace. They go flat out until they drop.

· Their skeletal systems are growing rapidl, which often results in apparent lack of coordination.

· Their cardiovascular and temperature regulation system is not fully developed. Their heart rate peaks quickly and they overheat quickly. make sure that they get adequate water breaks.

· They have a limited understanding of personal evaluation. "If they try hard, they performed well" regardless of the actual performance. Thus, they need to be encouraged constantly, and asked "Now, can you do this?"

· They are better at recognizing when the ball is out of play, and remembering what goal they are going for... but, in the heat of battle, they will sometimes still forget. They still find it difficult to really be aware of more than one thing at a time.

One of the biggest problems at this age will be when children of different levels are mixed. Sometimes it's between children who have been playing for a while and those that are either new or really don't care about it. Sometimes the difference is in physical or mental qualities. When the levels are too great this puts a stress on everyone's relationship and is the hardest problem for a coach to solve. AYSO soccer promotes balanced teams, so coaches will have children of varying levels on their teams.

Children at this age still have a fragile self-image. They become more concerned what others think. Players are able to cooperate with a partner. Most of practice is done with one ball per person or one ball per pair. Practices should focus on games and simple problem solving. U8's begin to understand rules and concepts of fairness. Practice should be no longer than 60-75 minutes. Players believe that "if I try hard, then I performed well", regardless of actual performance. Effort equals performance.

They still only have a limited ability to attend to more than one task at a time. Controlling or dribbling a ball, for example, will take most of the concentration capacity thereby leaving little or no room for making tactical decisions. Players like to "show off" for adults and other players. Use this to your advantage. Players at this age will try to imitate each other.

Examples of Activities for 6 and 7 Year Olds.

“Blob tag”

Players dribble around and stay out of reach of the blob. The blob is two or three players holding hands. Coach can start as blob. The blob grows as players are tagged. Blob has to stay together. Split blob into two if it gets too long.

“Gate Game”

Small gates (cones 2 yards apart) are placed in an area (20 x 20 yards). Players work in pairs. Begin with one ball per player. Pair gets point when each player dribbles through a gate. Can't go through same gate twice in a row. Next have players use one ball. They get a point when they pass ball to partners through one of the gates.

“Star Wars”

One half of the players place ball on a flat cone. The other half try to knock the ball off the cone by kicking their balls at the targets. Players can not kick the ball off the cone. Let players choose names, play roles.