12/8/17 (1 hour) My first day was very nerve racking because I didn't know what to expect or what I was doing. This was my first experience with the younger age groups. We took them through a warm up of high knees, buttkickers, jogging, etc. Since these kids were younger, we did very simple drills, like running in and out of cones and working on getting them to dribble in confined spaces and trying not to go out of the box. We then ended by playing 1v1 and 2v2 with the kids to teach them how to score in a goal. It was overall a pretty easy and fun first day with the club.
12/15/17 (1 hour) This was week 2 with the same kids as before, we more or less did the same thing as the week before. We started with a warm up (just as the week before), but this week we ended up doing a finishing drill where we would roll the ball out to the kids and then they would shoot on small goals. Then we ended again with 1v1 and 2v2. Us coaches talked about how repetition is important for the kids, to help them better understand how to do those in particular activities and drills.
1/5/18 (1 hour) This is the same group I've worked with the last 2 times, we took a Christmas Break to give the kids a time off. We started off by this time seeing if any of them remembered some of the parts of the warm up and then us as coaches added some extra warm up stretches the kids missed. We then did the cone drill again and also the dribbling drill. We then incorporated both dribbling and shooting by making the kids dribble across a tiny field to the other side and then shoot on the goal. We then ended with a small sided 3v3 game since we only had 6 total kids.
1/7/18 (1 hour) Today I worked with the older age groups today for the first time. These are kids between the ages of 6-9, with these kids we were able to teach them a lot more than just the basics. We started off by letting Wilmer and his other coaches lead their team's designated warm ups. Then I jumped in to help with multiple skill based drills they did and then helped by playing with the kids in a bigger full side indoor game. This was these kids last practice before their game on the 9th.
1/9/18 (2 hours) This was these kids first games of the season, I helped coach both the U6 and U8 teams. I was there to help talk to the kids when they came off the field and also to talk to the kids that play defense because that is the positions that they struggle at the most. Both teams won that day, the U6 team won 8-2 and the U8 team won 13-4.
1/12/18 (1 hour) This is another training with the older kids age groups, the U7 and U9 teams have games the next day so it is important to get them as many touches as possible. Amy and I led the U7's today and the U9's were led by Wilmer. Amy and I worked on 1v1 and 2v2 to begin training and then ended training by working on formation tactics with the kids and teaching them on where they need to be at all times.
1/13/18 Part 1 (1 hour) The U9's had their game first, today for the game I was told to work with the forwards and the midfield for the game, this was a game where the midfield was very important. I helped the midfielders and forwards when they came off the field by showing and explaining to them where to be and at what times and why they should be there.
1/13/18 Part 2 (1 hour) The U7's had their first game later in the day, for this game I was told to focus on helping the defense and midfield work together and teach them that they both need to work together for the offense to run. I helped them by telling them where they should be and also the defenders had to be vocal when talking with their midfield and forwards.
1/14/18 Part 1 (1 hour) The U8's had a game that morning and I was mainly the coach for this game so I was in charge of the whole team. This is where all the times I've worked with them in training payed off, having the kids respect me and know me better than when we started helped them achieve what they wanted to do, which was winning the league and they did that by winning the game 4-2.
1/14/18 Part 2 (1 hour) Today was my last training session with the kids for the winter session because my club season starts up next weekend. So today we warmed up for a little bit and then played a big 8v8 game with the coaches and the players, some of the coaches played on the different aged teams. It was more or less a fun day for the kids and the coaches because it was our last training session of the winter session.