Help with the six year olds

ragyrascal 5
IRN BRU 5
The.Rampage.Rado 5
JiMMM 5
majwalrus 4
Bulsara 4
dodgeyumpires 4
juveniliahockey 4
Rutter 4
serbulator 4

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[stick_block]

Dear All

I have a group of 6 year old and plus for 1hr 15 mins does anyone have any fun drilss for them. I have done the basics with them.

[zuluhockey]

Hi stick_block,

I am working on a project at the moment to produce some training cards for the younger children (Ages 6 - 11). You are more than welcome to use them as they come along, and that way you could also become our guinea pigs testers for the cards.

Drop me a PM and we can exchange details if you would like me to send something over!

[hullabaloo]

75 minutes is a very long training session for 6 year olds  :O   I find 45-50 minutes is all they ever need (concentration goes and tiredness sets in after that!)   

it's always good to have a bank of games to draw on for your sessions, like dog & bone, rob the nest, chinese wall. also don't be afraid to use fun games that don't necessarily involve hockey sticks/balls but still develop motor skills - plenty of these type of games out there that would be suitable for this age.

[steve]

First of all I would like to start exactly as hullabaloo. 75 minutes is a lot for 6 year olds. I used to coach this kind of age group a while ago and 45 minutes was exactly the right time.

First I used to start the session with an obstacle course. I used sticks, cones, bags, ropes and even bins as obstacles in a circuit round the pitch. Always would get them tired instantly! 

After the warming up then I used to tell them a short story and incorporate it in the exercise. For example, for a dribbling exercise we would turn the cones into dragons and the sticks on the floor into witches. We had to avoid these to save the princess on the other side. Apart from this I would also focus on something which the kids would really enjoy doing and give them extra points for it. For example, the shooting exercise would consists in the kids shooting at the goal and then celebrate as hard as they can. The points where given according to the celebration!... and they could only celebrate if they scored.

Anyway, it's very important to remember that at this age the most important thing is that they have fun and have as much ball contact as possible. Get someone to tape a session and later on see how much actual ball time the kids had in 45 minutes... you'll be surprised!