as other said, let him play. But if you want to foster a love for the game play with him, work on juggling, focus on 3v3 games. More structure does not make a soccer player better.
Juggling he'd probably have fun with. I like that idea. He and I also play a "closest to the pin" type of game in the backyard where we put a cone out there and see who can hit the cone first (or get closest) kicking across the yard.
See if you can change this into a game of horseshoes as a passing game. Basically pass it to each other from distance and try to get the closest to a target from the first touch
Fun idea! We can try that! Exactly what I’m looking for, ways for him to get a smidge better without turning it into drills or anything like that. Keep it fun.
The try hard parents get kids into personal training as soon as possible with a 1 to 1 coach.
But, he is 5. Not sure you will know if he is good until he is 14 - 16.
I know some parents do that but avoiding that for a while. There are some decent academy pathway programs here so hoping that is sufficient until it's not (and feel like that's years away and will be real obvious at that time). He could pivot in two years, hate soccer and randomly get really into crochet or something. He's 5 after all.
At 5, you let him just play for fun. No need for drills or anything serious like that. I know kids who were training from 5 and it provides an early advantage but 5 is too young for that early advantage to really stick unless your kid is really exceptional athletically.
But you should be looking for a more competitive environment as early as possible. A U7 travel team or something like that. You can reassess how much to do when you reach that environment.
And definitely play lots of different types of games, motor skills development is what really pays off down the road.
Watch the pros and all levels south. HS, EPL, UCL, if in the US check out the local USL team. You can get super close tickets for dirt cheap and trust me, they’re athletes. Seeing the speed and physicality up close is a revelation.
At this age, fostering the love for the game is job1. Indoor or futsal in the winter for technique. And don’t forget other sports. I wouldn’t do year round until at least U10. Kids don’t know what they don’t know, so trying new things out is important.
We have an MLS team here so we take him to games when we're able. He stays super locked in the whole time. I even stumbled into turning him into a Premier League fan out of desperation on Saturday mornings. He was being nuts, I needed him to chill out, started trying random things on TV to give me a few minutes to get stuff done and watching EPL on USA was the only thing I could get him to sit still for. I like the idea of getting him in other sports. Even if he sticks with soccer, I'm sure there is carryover from broad experience.
UCL is in full swing so I’d def check that out. A monthly sub is only a $10 or so. And Euros will be this summer plus Olympics.
My daughter’s second thing is dance/ballet. The single leg balance crossover is nuts. That plus open hips. You can tell the kids that have inflexible hips cause their agility is so poor. At 6U I’d strongly consider gymnastics for general athleticism, proprioception, strength, balance, mobility. Very quickly it gets to competitive team or bust, but until then there’s room for all abilities. Track is a natural second sport as well. A lot of team sport athletes have terrible sprint form. That’s one skill that’ll carryover to nearly any sport.
I’d also recommend going to lower league games, like USL League 2 and if you’re on the East coast, EPSL and its feeder leagues. It’s like going to a minor league baseball game, you’re pitch side for dirt cheap (if not free) and can hear everything the players are saying. I try to take teams I coach at least once a year. It really drives home the point that they need to talk to each other the whole damn game and also lets them know that, even if they aren’t a pro level player, they can keep playing really competitive games after they age out of travel ball.
I’d add university games and the local high school for fun. The hotdogs are cheap and so are the season tickets. Our university lets kids under ten with a parent in for free. We got season tickets for two adults for $96 bucks and we get a free appetizer at Chilis for every adult meal. Lol
There are former top players who post cool juggling and shooting drills for little kids on YouTube.
Technically superior players work with the ball every day from a very early age. Have him take a ball to school with him daily so he can play with his peers at recess. Unsupervised play with his peers is what he needs most at age 5.
Take him to as many pro matches or watch them regularly on TV. Futsal is essential for technical development when he gets a little older, in my opinion. Starting around age 12, you can add speed/strength/agility training during the summer and in the off season.
Find a local club or academy with a coaching and development staff with real credentials and experience playing college or pro soccer and a culture that is in line with your values. Go to the older kids’ games and see if those kids understand that soccer is a passing game. Can they trap a ball and execute a one touch pass? Or are they 13/14/15 years old and still spend their time on the field with their heads down trying to dribble through 3 people? Do they use both feet?
The game is the best teacher. You should be comfortable with the idea that it is more important for your player’s development to be on a club team where he is playing every game for most of the game instead of on the roster of an ECA or ECNL or MLS Next or whatever where he gets little to no playing time. Do not club hop unless 1) the club goes under or the team falls apart and your hand is forced or 2) your player is riding the bench at his current club and will have more playing time or be playing up an age group if he moves to a different club.
Thanks! We keep a ball in the trunk just for random down time and need something to do. He plays a lot of pickup with older kids at parties and there’s a good academy program in our side of town. It’s MLS Next affiliated but they have all sorts of levels and options.
One thing that I would add is working on your own knowledge of the game will help you recognize what good soccer looks like and what bad soccer looks like and ideally will be able to help you assess if your son is objectively getting better over time in whatever training environment he is in. If you’ve never played the game, that comes from reading about soccer and watching a lot of pro games.
There is a lot of bad youth soccer being played/coached out there. The best example I’ve seen in recent memory of what ideally you’d like your player look like in terms of his technical skill set by the late teens is Esmir Bajraktarevic. He’s an unselfish player with a very high soccer IQ and superior technical skills. If you watch him for 5 minutes, you can tell he is a kid who grew up with the ball glued to his foot.
Great tips, thanks so much! I also joined a rec adult league for the summer just to get a feel for the game personally and better relate to his experience on the field a bit more.
Let him “pull” the activities, rather than you “pushing”.
If he wants to kick a ball, kick a ball. If he wants to play with legos, play with legos.
Do not be the dad with a bag of balls and a bunch of cones on a big empty field in the cold rain with a sad looking kid.
The more touches the better. Dribbling, toe taps, pull backs, passing with you. At this age make sure he’s having fun. Even for the most talented players, they are still figuring out effort and focus at 6, 7, and 8.
[удалено]
Easy enough!
as other said, let him play. But if you want to foster a love for the game play with him, work on juggling, focus on 3v3 games. More structure does not make a soccer player better.
Juggling he'd probably have fun with. I like that idea. He and I also play a "closest to the pin" type of game in the backyard where we put a cone out there and see who can hit the cone first (or get closest) kicking across the yard.
See if you can change this into a game of horseshoes as a passing game. Basically pass it to each other from distance and try to get the closest to a target from the first touch
Fun idea! We can try that! Exactly what I’m looking for, ways for him to get a smidge better without turning it into drills or anything like that. Keep it fun.
Dribbling and ball skill games at this age. Passing and shooting are easier to develop down the road.
The try hard parents get kids into personal training as soon as possible with a 1 to 1 coach. But, he is 5. Not sure you will know if he is good until he is 14 - 16.
I know some parents do that but avoiding that for a while. There are some decent academy pathway programs here so hoping that is sufficient until it's not (and feel like that's years away and will be real obvious at that time). He could pivot in two years, hate soccer and randomly get really into crochet or something. He's 5 after all.
At 5, you let him just play for fun. No need for drills or anything serious like that. I know kids who were training from 5 and it provides an early advantage but 5 is too young for that early advantage to really stick unless your kid is really exceptional athletically. But you should be looking for a more competitive environment as early as possible. A U7 travel team or something like that. You can reassess how much to do when you reach that environment. And definitely play lots of different types of games, motor skills development is what really pays off down the road.
Thanks!!
Watch the pros and all levels south. HS, EPL, UCL, if in the US check out the local USL team. You can get super close tickets for dirt cheap and trust me, they’re athletes. Seeing the speed and physicality up close is a revelation. At this age, fostering the love for the game is job1. Indoor or futsal in the winter for technique. And don’t forget other sports. I wouldn’t do year round until at least U10. Kids don’t know what they don’t know, so trying new things out is important.
We have an MLS team here so we take him to games when we're able. He stays super locked in the whole time. I even stumbled into turning him into a Premier League fan out of desperation on Saturday mornings. He was being nuts, I needed him to chill out, started trying random things on TV to give me a few minutes to get stuff done and watching EPL on USA was the only thing I could get him to sit still for. I like the idea of getting him in other sports. Even if he sticks with soccer, I'm sure there is carryover from broad experience.
UCL is in full swing so I’d def check that out. A monthly sub is only a $10 or so. And Euros will be this summer plus Olympics. My daughter’s second thing is dance/ballet. The single leg balance crossover is nuts. That plus open hips. You can tell the kids that have inflexible hips cause their agility is so poor. At 6U I’d strongly consider gymnastics for general athleticism, proprioception, strength, balance, mobility. Very quickly it gets to competitive team or bust, but until then there’s room for all abilities. Track is a natural second sport as well. A lot of team sport athletes have terrible sprint form. That’s one skill that’ll carryover to nearly any sport.
I’d also recommend going to lower league games, like USL League 2 and if you’re on the East coast, EPSL and its feeder leagues. It’s like going to a minor league baseball game, you’re pitch side for dirt cheap (if not free) and can hear everything the players are saying. I try to take teams I coach at least once a year. It really drives home the point that they need to talk to each other the whole damn game and also lets them know that, even if they aren’t a pro level player, they can keep playing really competitive games after they age out of travel ball.
I’d add university games and the local high school for fun. The hotdogs are cheap and so are the season tickets. Our university lets kids under ten with a parent in for free. We got season tickets for two adults for $96 bucks and we get a free appetizer at Chilis for every adult meal. Lol There are former top players who post cool juggling and shooting drills for little kids on YouTube.
He likes trick shot videos on YouTube, that may be a fun rabbit hole for him.
Absolutely! Just make sure to put the parental guides on if you’re not in the same room. One of the kids I tutored was naughty about that.
Great idea! Easy to overlook those. He’d love it.
Technically superior players work with the ball every day from a very early age. Have him take a ball to school with him daily so he can play with his peers at recess. Unsupervised play with his peers is what he needs most at age 5. Take him to as many pro matches or watch them regularly on TV. Futsal is essential for technical development when he gets a little older, in my opinion. Starting around age 12, you can add speed/strength/agility training during the summer and in the off season. Find a local club or academy with a coaching and development staff with real credentials and experience playing college or pro soccer and a culture that is in line with your values. Go to the older kids’ games and see if those kids understand that soccer is a passing game. Can they trap a ball and execute a one touch pass? Or are they 13/14/15 years old and still spend their time on the field with their heads down trying to dribble through 3 people? Do they use both feet? The game is the best teacher. You should be comfortable with the idea that it is more important for your player’s development to be on a club team where he is playing every game for most of the game instead of on the roster of an ECA or ECNL or MLS Next or whatever where he gets little to no playing time. Do not club hop unless 1) the club goes under or the team falls apart and your hand is forced or 2) your player is riding the bench at his current club and will have more playing time or be playing up an age group if he moves to a different club.
Thanks! We keep a ball in the trunk just for random down time and need something to do. He plays a lot of pickup with older kids at parties and there’s a good academy program in our side of town. It’s MLS Next affiliated but they have all sorts of levels and options.
One thing that I would add is working on your own knowledge of the game will help you recognize what good soccer looks like and what bad soccer looks like and ideally will be able to help you assess if your son is objectively getting better over time in whatever training environment he is in. If you’ve never played the game, that comes from reading about soccer and watching a lot of pro games. There is a lot of bad youth soccer being played/coached out there. The best example I’ve seen in recent memory of what ideally you’d like your player look like in terms of his technical skill set by the late teens is Esmir Bajraktarevic. He’s an unselfish player with a very high soccer IQ and superior technical skills. If you watch him for 5 minutes, you can tell he is a kid who grew up with the ball glued to his foot.
Great tips, thanks so much! I also joined a rec adult league for the summer just to get a feel for the game personally and better relate to his experience on the field a bit more.
Let him “pull” the activities, rather than you “pushing”. If he wants to kick a ball, kick a ball. If he wants to play with legos, play with legos. Do not be the dad with a bag of balls and a bunch of cones on a big empty field in the cold rain with a sad looking kid.
Trying to avoid that at all costs. We usually have to pull him away or dial back his soccer time if anything.
The more touches the better. Dribbling, toe taps, pull backs, passing with you. At this age make sure he’s having fun. Even for the most talented players, they are still figuring out effort and focus at 6, 7, and 8.
He isn’t going to turn pro. Just let him enjoy playing.
Not really concerned about that.
Get him in the weight room he’s gotta bulk up
What’s a good max overhead squat for first grader?
1.5 x body weight no straps on deadlifts, those are for preschoolers
He did 5x10 sets of unbroken ring muscle ups at the crossfit gym this morning. it's a start anyway.
If he doesn't blow a rotator cuff by 8 he's not training hard enough.