7 Tips for Coaching Kindergarten Football

Mastering Kindergarten Football

First, let me admit: kindergarten is a truly special beast.

It is a devil's zone that makes many early-childhood teachers feel like they have entered the devil's domain, and a mysterious pitch that makes many coaches feel they still need far more training before they can crack it. Headaches, confusion, helplessness, and a total lack of achievement, these are the words most commonly used to describe kindergarten football sessions.

Kindergarten children are hyperactive and have absolutely zero awareness of safety. They love games yet constantly break the rules. One second they are little angels, the next they are screaming and crying. They are always ready to enter "ask a thousand whys" mode, and worst of all, you have no idea what they are thinking, anyone who has a little girl at home should know exactly that feeling!

Below, based on our years of experience teaching at every level of kindergarten, we are going to share some of our hard-won tips.

Be More Coach Centered (COACH CENTERED)

Being coach centered does not mean the coach bosses everyone around and does whatever pleases them, ignoring the children's feelings entirely. Rather, it means that every instruction should originate from the coach's intended purpose, and every arrangement should be organized according to the coach's considered plan.

Every person may learn football in a different way, but at the kindergarten stage, certain fundamental rules and discipline are especially important. You definitely do not want to see kids running all over the place or being noisy and chaotic, so do not try to give instructions that merely make you look nice.

Player-centered instructions like "do whatever moves you feel like" or "dribble to any area you like" will bring you disasters no smaller than a tsunami (sorry, I just revealed my identity). Instead, more directive instructions such as "now try touching the ball only with the side of your foot" or "keep the ball on the board, close to your body", instructions that give children concrete requirements, will help you gradually capture their attention and set a positive atmosphere for the entire session.

Encouragement! Encouragement, and More Encouragement! (ENCOURAGEMENT)

In kindergarten children, involuntary attention dominates, while voluntary attention is still developing.

For example, if a child loses interest in building blocks and wants to go play house with other kids, a single word of encouragement from you may be enough to keep them at their previous "post", that is the power of encouragement. If children start losing focus during small-group practice before a game, your words need to step up!

But note: your observation and reaction should play a more important role than your words. Indiscriminate, constant encouragement like "you're awesome!" or "great job!" will not effectively engage their voluntary attention. In fact, it will quickly make you lose "credibility" in the children's eyes.

Observing what the children are doing well and what they could improve will make your words of encouragement more targeted, so the child believes you are genuinely encouraging them, rather than saying "great" with your mouth while your face screams "you're terrible."

Bad example: "Great job touching the ball with the side of your foot!" repeated over and over.

Good example: "Great job touching the ball with the side of your foot, very gentle, nice and close to your body. Now try to see if you can do it a bit faster."

Stand on the Line! (STAND ON THE LINE)

When it comes to kindergarten classes, who can avoid talking about discipline? Faced with kids running wild all over the pitch and their natural, carefree smiles, you do not even know whether to let them be happy or to quickly bring the situation under control.

Every session, every segment within a session, starts with gathering the group. As the saying goes, a good start is half the battle, and how to manage this gathering well is itself a deep art.

The various lines scattered all over the pitch can be a tremendous help: "everyone stand on the white line facing me," "everyone sit behind this line," "nobody is allowed to leave this white-line area", these avoid the rigidity of repeatedly shouting "gather round!" or the chaos caused by children chasing after you as you move around, and they establish "rules" from the very beginning of the session.

Code of Conduct (CODE OF CONDUCT)

Speaking of rules, I personally believe that for sessions of all age groups, the coach should state, and only needs to state, two requirements before the very first session:

When I am talking, everyone is silent.

Everyone must have fun.

Then go around giving each child a high-five or fist bump, I personally prefer the fist bump (because I think it looks pretty cool, right?). If someone whispers or argues while you are speaking, ask them whether they made a deal with you. The child will also realize that breaking a promise is not exactly something to be proud of…

As for the various little incidents that come up during the session, here is a routine that should solve just about everything (unless your session is utterly boring, in which case no one can save you):

Ball under your foot.

Once everyone is quiet, we start a new game.

Who wants to play a match?!

Go try it out!

Bring In More Context (CONDITION)

Kindergarten children have limited understanding of toys and rules, and their incidental memory is predominant. For example, if you ask them what a watch looks like, they might only be able to say something about the ticking sound. But if you give them more specific and vivid guidance, what shape is the face, how many fingers do you have and what can each one do, what numbers are on the dial, the children's absorption and learning outcomes will be completely different!

Therefore, in our sessions we can absolutely bring in more contexts that children find interesting and familiar, making football easier for them to accept and quickly converting incidental memory into intentional memory. Which teaching method works better: "kick the middle of the ball when passing" or "the ball is like a person's head, when we pass, we kick it on the nose"?

From small details like these to the design of an entire session, fun contexts can be woven in, even carried throughout the whole session.

For an entire session, the coach and children can all be pirates: your training pitch is the deck, and stepping outside the area means falling into the sea and being eaten by sharks. All crew members must obey the captain's (the coach's) orders, or your treasure (the football) will be confiscated by the captain and the other crew!

For an entire session, everyone can be drivers of various vehicles, driving on the great big five-ring road of Beijing (the training pitch). If you drive into the oncoming lane (off the pitch), then the traffic police (the coach) will come and take your car (the football) away…

Kindergarten children at this stage have intense curiosity about all kinds of common and novel things, traffic, vehicles, weapons, professions, buildings, countries, animals, fairy tales, the ocean, and so on. There is an endless supply of contexts we can put to good use. I once attended a coaching demonstration session themed around "The Three Little Pigs," and every participating coach was laughing so hard they were rolling on the ground!

You Are the Boss (BE THE BOSS)

Do not fall into the trap of thinking that a great early-childhood coach must be like a nanny, absolutely not!

Anyone who has been to the vet has heard the term "pet slave." In the process of raising a pet, the relationship gradually flips upside down and the pet becomes the boss in the dynamic. This situation is no less common in early-childhood education, in fact, it can be even more extreme.

These preschool-age children, who have been spoiled and pampered too many times, believe they are the boss of every environment. The slightest frustration triggers screaming and raging, with zero mental preparation.

The principles we discussed earlier, being coach centered, standing on the line, setting rules, all reinforce the psychological message that you are the boss. And when you bring in themed contexts, always remember that you are the captain, the police officer, the big bad wolf, or the great white shark. You are the rule maker, not a "child slave" who can be ordered around at will.

Another expression of being the boss is that you should always be the sole focus of the children's attention. Imagine you are a superstar walking down the street (but don't let your imagination run too wild). So when you are talking, they should not still be looking at the kindergarten teacher standing to the side, nor at the ants on the ground, and certainly not staring at the parents standing outside the fence.

If your personal charm is not quite enough, choose a good position. Make yourself the only moving object in the children's field of vision. And of course, basics like crouching down to their level, avoiding having children face the sun, and avoiding having children sit against the wind should already be second nature to you.

Be Funny (BE FUNNY, PLEASE!!)

Picture the scene: your beautiful bride in a dreamy white gown walking gracefully toward you…

No wait, picture this instead: the moment you arrive at the training ground, a swarm of little kids comes sprinting over, clinging to your legs, calling out your name (I admit it is hard to tell which scenario is more tempting to me). Why do some coaches enjoy this kind of welcome from children, while other coaches dread going to kindergarten as if they are heading for torture?

If you ask me, it comes down to one word: fun!

Weren't we just talking about humor? Yes, hang on, don't rush me. True fun comes from many sources. Your cultivation, natural talent, experience, way of speaking, posture, attitude, all these aspects require extensive accumulation and refinement before you can effortlessly command the room. At that point, your inherent fun factor can hold the whole session together.

But for us lesser mortals who are still far from making children gravitate to us through sheer charm, can you at least be a bit humorous? Come on, dare to "get everyone into the bowl"?

When asking children to hand over watches and jewelry for safety, how about throwing in a "surrender your weapons!" now and then?

As long as your comedy is not as crude as an off-color joke, then please, boldly unleash yourself and enjoy the process of being with these children. I believe that while you are making a difference in their lives, you will also experience a quantum leap in your own teaching ability and understanding!

Then again, how could you possibly be funnier than me?