Austin Soccer is a popular sport. It is also an excellent training ground for young children. Parents are all eager to have their kids enrolled in soccer classes yet they can be very protective of their little ones. Like any parent, you don’t wish your children to get hurt in any way. It is for this reason that Soccer in Austin has come up with specific training rules and guidelines that is tailored for your kids.
Children can start training classes for soccer while they are still very young. Kids are grouped according to age and the youngest are placed on the U-6 category. By U-6, it means that the child is under-6 as of August 1. Under-6 soccer classes can only be comprised of 3 kids per one coach. When they start battling it out in the field, there can only be 3 players for each team.
If you’re wondering why they can’t have a team of 7 or 11, well, these kids are not mature enough that if someone gets the ball, he or she just might pick it up and run away. Kids who are very young are sometimes not keen on sharing so you can just imagine the chaos that will happen with so many kids around. As your children’s age go up, they are slowly introduced to more team plays. Hence, from 3 vs. 3, there can later be 4 vs. 4 when they reach 8 years old, 6 vs. 6 when they’re 10, 8 vs. 8 when they’re 12 until they become mature and old enough to play the regular team playing number of 11 vs. 11.
Drills that are given to kids vary depending on their age. The coach handling the Under-6 classes will have to be creative as little kids can easily get bored. Soccer classes will have to be quick since these younger ones often have a short attention span. As such, for Under-6 kids, training will usually last for 45 minutes. The group comprised of 8 year-olds will have classes that stretch up to an hour while 10 year-old groups can practice until 1 hour and 15 minutes. Older children can regularly practice up to 1 hour and 30 minutes.
There is also the difference in the size of ball that the kids are handling. The smaller they are, the smaller the size of the ball that they are using. In every practice, it is also well-advised that young kids bring the necessary equipment that they’ll need. These include soccer shoes and shin guards. Bringing lots of water is also highly recommended.