AYSA COACHING EDUCATION

More touches! More Creative! More FUN! AYSA moves U-11s to 8 vs 8 for 2008 - 2009.

Arizona has voted to move all U-11 play -- including State League and National Cup -- to a 8 vs 8 format. Following the lead of Arizona State League, the Board of Directors voted to approve the new policy at their meeting on March 9th.

"At this age, player development is directly related to how much fun and enjoyment each player experiences," explains AYSA DOC Tony Colavecchia. From there it's simple; small sided games on a smaller field give each player more touches, more involvement and more fun!

"Eleven-a-side soccer is an adult game, devised by and for adults. The objective of small-sided games is a stair step approach for young players to grow into the adult game", Tony stated.

In 8 vs 8, players get more playing time which encourages maximum individual participation, more individual involvement which improves fitness and more opportunities to score; or stop a score.

The move which is strongly supported by US Youth Soccer is based on educational research on the way children learn -- just as with their academic learning. "It is difficult to teach tactical concepts on a huge field. In a u11 game I recently watched (playing 11 v 11), some players barely touched the ball. The game was decided by a goal that went sailing over the goalkeepers head. He had no chance; he was simply not tall enough to make the save. The goal was too big".

"We want to develop creative, confident players who can truly develop soccer skills on the appropriate size fields. When I see under 11s play on a full field, I see lots of big spaces and too many players simply not involved in the game"

"My only hope is that this truly supported by the Coaches and especially the Parents. Some Coaches and Parents see this as not the real game because it is not 11 v 11, it is in fact, the total opposite".

"The majority of other States have been playing 8 vs 8 at U-11 & U-12 for the past 7 or 8 years so we have some catching up to do", Tony Concluded.

Hello all , more small sided game info that I thought would be useful for all your Clubs, Leagues and most importantly your players!

Some of you I am sure are already familiar with most of this , but if I hope this proves helpful.

cheers Tony C

It’s nice to see that England is catching up to what we have been doing for almost ten years with the U12 age group. With our U6, U8 and U10 age groups we have been playing Small-Sided Games (SSG) for the last 17 years. We have been and continue to be a leader in youth player development in soccer and SSG is one piece of the puzzle. It was interesting to read in the broadcast the stats from a few other European countries on their version of SSG and at what age they begin to play 11v11…U15 for Spain. This supports the research done by US Youth Soccer on the formats for youth soccer in a number of nations.

For that information and much more on Small-Sided Games please look over the Small-Sided Games Resource Center on the US Youth Soccer web site at: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/coaches/SmallSidedGames.asp

We Americans have every reason to be proud of the foresight we have shown in making the adult game of soccer more accessible and enjoyable for children to play.

SuccessInSoccer-MentalMaturity.pdf

Director of Coaching and Player Development - Tony Colavecchia aysadoc@aol.com