How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

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Peanut
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How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by Peanut »

I have this idea that I want to put a call out for local kids to play weekly scrimmages at our nearby park (has nets) so I can avoid the formal classes that are offered here for ~$18/session. Does anyone sporty or with experience of such things have any suggestions about how they would run something like this?

Thing is I know some of the rules of soccer but don’t have any experience playing myself. These kids are 4-6 so I figure it’s not that important and maybe the other parents that show up can also weigh in on refereeing, etc. Still I need some kind of game plan I figure. The goal is not to interfere much but just let the kids have some fun within a structured set time and setting.

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Seppia
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by Seppia »

I would start from the parents.
Do you have access/someone that can introduce you to a group of parents of a local elementary school?
Kids being involved, you would have to be introduced by somebody trusted (ie another parent, a teacher, etc)

FBeyer
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by FBeyer »

What is it you're trying to avoid? Formal classes… for? Adults? Children? For YOUR children? What is it you hope to gain? If you don't want to gain anything, I assume you're just trying to set up some informal soccer in your neighbourhood.

Confused, I am.
-not Yoda

jacob
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by jacob »

So you're asking how to organize a game of street soccer in a park? I don't think organization is necessary [by definition].

All you need is a ball + the awareness that there's a game going on. E.g. pickup soccer in the park every Thursday at 4pm.

Goal posts can be rocks or shirts on the ground. Real soccer goals seem very big at that age. Hockey or handball goals would be more fun since the goalie has an actual chance to make a save. Also a smaller field makes for a lot more action. If you're short on players, use a flying goalie so they don't have to stand around waiting all the time. It's boring. If you have an uneven number of players, the smaller team gets a flying goalie.

You probably do not need shirt colors. At that age, people don't really play as a team with positions, but rather as individuals trying to score at goal at the other end. If you do need shirt colors, do "lights" (white or gray) vs "darks" (any random color) and ask people to bring one of each.

You don't need a ref. Kids at that age are (were?) perfectly capable of figuring out their own rules. That's a good idea too because it's part of growing up. The rules as I remember them was the offsite was ignored (too complicated/also not so relevant on a small field) and that tackling was discouraged (what could possibly go wrong?) as was hammering(*) the ball against the goalie at close range (considered unfair and potentially painful). Also no free kicks or penalties.

(*) I don't know what the English word for that is.

If you play for points to compete, expect players to get more serious. Perhaps too serious. If you play for awards, expect fights and arguments. That might be the only time when you need a ref.

Teams can be either picked by leaders (not the greatest idea socially because people will stop showing up if they're always picked last) or by throwing shoes into a pile and having one pick them randomly to distribute the sides. If the game turns out to be heavily unbalanced, transfer a good player/showboat to the other team. Again, this is something the kids can figure out on their own.

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jennypenny
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by jennypenny »

It's been a while, but we used to have a loosely organized youth group that did sports and other things. Maybe some of what we did will work for you. The only caveat with what you said is that as soon as the township finds out that an 'organized' group is using the fields, they'll want a permit filed.

As far as the group activity ...
We had a loose group of 20 or so kids and maybe 2/3 would show up most of the time. We met after school once a week. We got cheap baseball hats in two colors from AC Moore -- the kids picked the hats out of a bag every week and that's how teams were assigned (also helped with sun protection). It was about an hour of whatever activity was on the docket and then 1/2 hour of eating and goofing off. I would have preferred homemade food, but parents didn't like having that responsibility so we ended up doing pizza most of the time. We had seasons, so we'd play soccer for a few weeks or so but then move on to other activities so they didn't get bored. We did kickball, frisbee (a surprise hit), tennis (all the kids on one court), swimming at the town pool, bowling when it was raining, and mini golf as a treat once in a while.

The trick to getting people to show up was to make it easy ... pizza and paper plates, no equipment needed if possible, siblings welcome to attend (older ones liked being ref) etc. We also met at a park with a playground most of the time so the kids could play together on the playground after they ate. At that age, if you get 30 minutes of actual practice in, you're doing great.


As far as soccer specifically ...
For that age group, you don't really need a field or goals. Cones will do. Make the field and the goal small. Ball handling is the only skill they should be focused on at that age (and learning to run with their heads up so they don't run into each other). The 'games' should really be mostly ball handling and occasional shots on goal. The ref can yell 'green keep away' and green team members can work on passing and ball handling while blue plays defense. Then the ref can yell 'blue keep away' and the green team passes off the ball so the blue team can pass it around. Once in a while yell 'try to score' while a team is practicing ball handling so they get the fun of trying to score. If it's always about scoring, you end up with two kids running up and down the field the whole time with the rest twiddling their thumbs. Have a separate drill where they all take shots on a big goal just for the fun of scoring and doing a victory dance if they score. (as always, gotta keep them from getting bored)

When they get a little better you can do ball-handling drills around cones and such, and make it a competition if that encourages the kids to try harder. We used to use parents instead of cones and the parents would play around (grab the kids suddenly, surprise a kid by kicking the ball away, move unexpectedly). That also helped to teach them to run/dribble with their heads up, and kept the kids engaged (parents, too).


But as I said, make it short and easy until the group is well-established. Most parents will only do something if it makes their life easier, not harder. I ended up talking the pizza place into delivering the pizzas to the field and playground so I didn't have to harass a parent into picking it up. That also made it easier to get everyone to chip in since the guy was standing there asking for money instead of a parent putting out the money and then having to take up a collection.

Realize that you will end up doing more work than anyone else to get it started. (Lead by example and all that.) I felt it was worth it in the end and it gave my kids something to do that I thought was more age and cost appropriate.

Peanut
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by Peanut »

Sorry to confuse some of you, yes my goal is to arrange free pick-up soccer for my son and anyone else in the neighborhood who wants to play. We did a couple sessions for pay when he was younger and it was fun but it’s too regimented I think for over 4. Plus it was indoor and paying a coach seems unnecessary for just outdoor scrimmage.

Thanks for great suggestions and tips JP and Jacob! I will definitely discard offsides rule and shrink the field. I watched YouTube for drills and will use open shots on goal as well.

I’m on the park board so we will be ok even if it becomes more formal or organized. It’s more likely no one will show up. I was thinking of distributing fliers at the playground to advertise. I can invite some of his friends too. Maybe the day of, people will notice us and just join spontaneously. Dunno but I figure now is the best time to try and build on general excitement of the World Cup coming up.

Picking teams, yeah. I was going to do alphabetical split maybe but I’ll have to assess size distribution. And strips of colored tape for distinguishing teams. Like the hats idea but I don’t want to spend money yet. I do plan to buy some cones. I was thinking of just bringing a couple bunches of bananas for energy boost. And then rotating banana duty if people come back.

Hmm. Have to think about two kids dominating like JP said. What I didn’t like about the soccer class was when they did scrimmage the coach kind of held back some kids. And yes my son was one of them but when he is really outmatched he gets frustrated too. I don’t think I have any experience to draw from in preventing lord of the flies on the field. Part of me thinks that’s the point, but I do want everyone to have fun.

*What is a flying goalie? You mean s/he roams freely during play?

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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

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IlliniDave
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by IlliniDave »

I remember coaching youth soccer in that age range. It is basically an exercise in herding. In the league in question coaches coached on the field literally trying to herd kids in the right direction and keep the goalies from getting distracted and picking dandelions or wandering off the field. I would think 2 adults or older kids, 1 for each side, would be enough for the herding/required refereeing. Games were basically an amoebolic pack chasing the ball in all directions (occasionally even towards the goal), especially on the younger end of the range. Point being that refereeing may not be all that important, the main task being deciding which side kicked the ball out of bounds (happens a lot). That was 20+ years ago so maybe kids today are a bit more advanced at the game at that age. Don't know what it would take beyond selling a few adults and rounding up a bunch of kids. 45-50 years ago that sort of stuff just happened spontaneously with no adult involvement at all.

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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by Farm_or »

Just show up.

Street ball, be it soccer or basketball, is great development for kids. The lack of adult regimen encourages creativity and practice of random skills.

When kids develop in a sport like that, they are dynamite! They practice hard like pros just for the joy.

If there's another park where it's already occurring, just showing up to join in is the best way. It's difficult to overcome the fear of rejection, but players like that are usually open to new members once they've warmed up to the idea.

Another idea: make your own goal out of PVC pipe and baling twine. Take it to the park to practice and take advantage of any interest shown.

Peanut
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by Peanut »

@IlliniDave: Thanks for the heads-up on herding! And introducing me to your neologism, amoebolic 😀.

With refereeing I was worried about dirty tackles but maybe that’s actually way beyond the ability of most kids this age. More likely someone will pull a Luis Suarez.

On the hands-off approach: Yes, I was inspired by a bio of Clint Dempsey talking about how he played in Mexican League growing up, which was just a brutal slugfest. Trial by fire honed his resourcefulness, creativity, etc. And I haven’t read that free-range parenting book but have absorbed the basic idea. Around here though I don’t see any spontaneous games happening outside the playground. Maybe it’s just my son’s age as he’s not really in school yet. So I had this idea of setting it up and hopefully the kids will take it over for themselves. We’ll see how it goes!

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jennypenny
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Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by jennypenny »

DS reminded me that when they were young and played without goalies, they didn't use goals. They had a flag on a stick that was stuck into a cone and to score the kids had to hit the stick with the ball. I'd forgotten that part.

Jason

Re: How to start and ref a soccer scrimmage for kids?

Post by Jason »

Get a sponsorship from your local bail bondsman.

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