Joe Mata

A new twist on a favourite game

Here is a game I developed remembering some of your basic coaching concepts.

It was a massive hit with my kids!

Red Light, Green Light. Yes this is a simple kids game, but that's why it worked out so well. I explained the rules in 15
seconds (a concept from your site): When I yell green light I turn my back and they dribble the ball toward me until I yell
red light when they have to stop. If I turn around and see them moving they have to start back at the goal line.

Then I remembered your concept of tailoring the rules if you are not getting the results you want. What I wanted was for
them to move and dribble the ball. However, in the first two games, the kids were kicking the ball way far ahead of them
and then stopping. I definitely did not want that. That taught them the wrong soccer skill.

I then changed the rule that they had to keep the ball on their foot, if I yelled red light and saw their ball moving or away
from their foot, they would have to start over.

Even four to five-year-olds grasped this new rule immediately. I enthusiastically congratulated the kids by saying,
"Excellent I see all those balls right at your feet, that's exactly where I want them, good job!"

(Reinforcement, another concept from your site).

The kids had such fun, they were begging me to play again and again and again. What did it teach them? Constant
exercise (playing this 5 to 10 times, half fields, is pretty major exercise for four to six-year-olds), dribbling, keeping the ball
close to them, starting and stopping with a ball, and listening.

I added a twist later on. I showed up at practice with a big water cooler, set it next to me and we played red light, green
light. Here's their incentive. I said if they can all get to the finish line and no one gets caught and has to start over, they get
this.

I opened the cooler full of water balloons. I said if they can do that, they can then each throw a water balloon at me. You
should have seen their eyes light up, they wanted to play soooooo bad.

Needless to say, I ended up soaking wet!

Thought I would pass this on to others who may be coaching young kids.

Chris Berger