Discovery Phase

The Discovery Phase, or ‘Grass roots football, is for players up to 8 years of age.

The primary objective of this group, is to make football fun, so that kids can ‘Discover’ the game, at their own pace.

As a coach in this age group, your session should be broken into 3 parts.

These are the ‘beginning’, the ‘middle’ and the ‘end’

Keeping your session moving, is key for children learning and for your own reward of delivering a a fun hour of football.

So, starting with a session plan, you can find one here:

Then, what do you fill your session with?

Plan your sessions in advance

Arrive early and set up the area

Give clear, short instructions

Demonstrate quickly and efficiently

Keep the session flowing

Vary the activities but keep it simple

Be enthusiastic and give lots of praise

Encourage after mistakes

Be patient

Have fun (both the kids and you!)

Keep everyone active, avoid having kids standing around

They are still ‘clumsy’ (lack fine motor skills), because they are still developing their coordination
They have a short span of attention and are quickly and easily distracted
They are ‘self-centred’ and not yet able to really work together (so do not ask them to perform team play, it is impossible for them!)
They play or participate for fun with short bursts of energy and enthusiasm
They are unable to handle a lot of information (instructions; feedback)

Look here for examples of what your ‘Discovery’ Session can look like:

There are also the following e-books that you can look at with great ideas to keep kids learning football, while having fun doing it