The Sport of Kings

My husband and I coach a 5 year-old soccer team. Okay let me take that back. We are supposed to be coaching 5 year-olds, but ended up with their 3 year-old siblings who threw tantrums until we obliged to let them play too. Brian and I have been trying to figure out how to teach them despite this large developmental gap. You might think "Oh its just two years," but let me tell ya, it is amazing what a couple of years can do.

On our first practice, we tried to teach them some simple rules of soccer, but within the first 40 seconds realized that wasn't going to happen. Imagine trying to get ten 3-5 year olds to all look at you at the same time, let alone, listen. Well, its pretty much impossible. On our first practice, Brian (my husband) and I, tried everything we could do to get the kids' attention. We tried the "take a knee" and "put both eyes on me" approach, we told them that we would get them candy bars, we coaxed them, we threatened them, but nothing worked. Then, as if the heavens opened, we miraculously got everyone's attention. But just for a second--until a seagull flew by and literally every child jumped 5 feet in the air and dove for it. If any of you have seen the Pixar movie "Up," the clip shown below is the closest thing I can relate to this experience: 

After getting their heart rates back down, we asked them what they wanted their team name to be. Eric wanted to be "The Jaguars," Jaime wanted to be "The Mexicans," Ernesto ate grass, Leonardo wanted to be "The Soccer Players," Nathalie wandered off into the other field again, and then somebody yelled "Lets be Team Yellow!" And as if that was the most brilliant idea ever--completely disregarding our blue jersies--everyone agreed, well except for Jaime who still wanted to be "The Mexicans." Brian and I tried to explain that it might be confusing to the other teams because we had blue jersies. But apparently that didn't matter, Team Yellow it was, blue shirts and all.

The rest of practice, we were overwhelmed with Ernesto pulling on our arms asking us to "Hold [him] like a baby;" Luis crying because Eric kicked the ball away from him (he hasn't quite figured out that that's the point of soccer); Leonardo climbing up the fence to see how high he could get before we would pull him down; Daniel and Eric were really well behaved; and Jaime...well he was another story.

Jaime is the little trouble maker who likes to get everyone distracted with inappropriate secrets, or wrestling...or constantly making reference to his private parts...Anyways, we were grateful that the first day of practice was over and done with, but--with no successful drills or scrimmages, we were quite hesitant for our first game! Saturday finally arrived, and although the younger ones got distracted a little...

...we were surprised to find out that they knew more than we thought they did! We asked their parents if they had ever played before; they just shrugged and said no, and told us that their kids would always watch their fathers play with each other, and maybe kick the ball around here and there. But they were never formally taught. This testified to me that no matter the developmental level of the child, the power of the teaching by example far out reaches the power of trying to teach them technical skills in a formalized fashion.

After several practices, Brian and I realized that it was most effective to teach them one skill per practice with a short little drill, and spend the rest of the time scrimmaging so they can how Brian and I do it, and so they can practice it for themselves. This week, we stressed the importance of staying in the boundaries. We gathered together in the circle that is spray painted in the middle of the field, split the kids into two teams, and had them kick the ball around. If one team member kicked it out of the circle, the ball was given to the other team. This helped them visualize the painted boundaries and feel the importance of keeping it within the lines. It really seemed to improve their understanding of boundaries.

In a couple years, I am sure that they will be able to have the attention span to learn more drills. But one thing that will always remain the same, is the power of learning by watching. This requires little words, but quite a bit of demonstration. Then comes practicing what they have been taught. This is folk knowledge: watching to learn and practicing to master. Keeping this cycle alive for the next generation to proliferate is what makes it history. 

I would go into the history of soccer, but this YouTube video sums it up much better than I could. You should really take a look, there are some really cool facts here!