Coaching U7 - U11 Girls Soccer : Team Bonding Ideas

[JohnfrWhipple]

This is my favourite time of year. Soccer has just started up and the weather is great. Coaching U9 soccer vs coaching U7 soccer is more enjoyable to me as a coach. Coaching U7 is more like hearding cats and less like developing young girls into soccer players.

This makes the eight straight year I have been involved in coaching here on the North Shore (NSGSC). I have coached these age groups over the following years;

2006 U7
2008 U8
2009 U7
2010 U8
2011 U9
2012 U10 & U7
2013 U11 & U8
2014 U9

I had to step aside and let more qualified coaches take over my middle daughters assistant coach position for U12 this year and it has been hard. Harder still my mentor coach and daughter's head coach prefers the parents not stick around for the practices. This quote from coach "The Parents Should Not be Hanging Around at the Practices" cut like a knife. Because on that team three of the girls I have coached for five years. Now I'm the parent, hanging around at practice.... Or at least I was - this week I did not show my face.

My focus now is on my youngest team, my little one's U9 team from North Vancouver. This year I made the transition from assistant coach to head coach. I'm lucky that so many parents help out and we have three assistant coaches as well. You learn a lot from soccer parents with older kids. Just like you learn from plumbers who help out and tile men that share their knowledge here. One thing I learned this year was the importance of team bonding events.

Getting the girls to get that team feeling. I thought it would be fun to design a team logo for my girls. They are called the Wildflowers and to no surprise there is no Wildflower soccer logo or crest out there. I decided to have each girl draw me a picture of a wild flower. I told them not to worry about size and that I would combine them into a team logo.

So far so good. I need five more flowers but this crest or soccer logo is really taking shape, I think.

What other fun events can I do as a team that has worked for maybe your girls team or your sons team?

 

[JohnfrWhipple]

I end every soccer season with a team Ice Cream event.

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On the last day I take all the kids to Dairy Queen for a cone or a blizzard. It is one of the highlights for me to see the smiles on the kids faces and the questions prior to the visit are hilarious.

"Do we only go if we win?" - No we go regardless

"Can we order anything we want?" - No, you can get a mini blizzard or small dipped cone.

"Can my mom come?" - Yes, she needs to drive you and she can have an ice cream as well.

My soccer coach as a kid was awesome. We ended every game and practice at MacDonalds. Small cone for everybody. As a kid you could always count on coach to take you there. Riding your bike 5k in the rain for a 1 1/2 hour practice seemed easier knowing that in less than two hours you and your friends would be stuffing your pie holes with soft serve ice cream!

 

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[JohnfrWhipple]

The last two weeks we have been playing an second game. Each week it is Kids vs the parents and the games are handicapped so the parents have a harder time with it. These have been fun sessions and a good bonding event I think for the entire team.