Greetings from Stafford Springs Soccer Club

September 10, 2023

The fall season is off and running.

Registration for all fall soccer activities is now closed as of Sept 10

Fall Soccer 2023 Recreation programs.
Intramurals 6-7 year olds Tuesday/Thursday 5:30pm and Saturday 11am at SMS.
Minikickers 4-5 year olds Wednesday 6:00pm and Saturday 10am at SHS.
Microkickers 3-year-olds Saturdays at 9:00am at SHS.

Fall Soccer 2023 Travel programs - good luck!
U12/13 Girls Coaches Kim and Erica
U9/10 Girls Coaches Kris and Diane
Under 12 Boys Coaches Joe and Jay
Under 10/11 Boys Coaches David and George
Under 9 Boys Coaches Andy and Ryan

Visit the Travel Team Schedules in SSSC NEWS

Send any questions my way,
Dave Bachiochi
860-424-1502

Activity Suggestions

Minikicker Activity Suggestions

General: Emphasize kicking, dribbling and running in all activities.  Keep activities very basic and simple to understand.  Encourage energy around the ball.  If anything is too hard, either simplify it or move onto something else.  Attention spans are not long in any case.  Activities should be structured so all or many kids are participating at once. Kids standing in line watching one shoot the ball is VERY BORING.

1.     Knock Down Cones – Coaches set up cones.  Every kid has a ball.  Have kids kick ball to knock down cones.  Coaches race to set them back up while kids continue to try to knock down every cone at once.

2.     Knock Out – Every kid has a ball in an enclosed, marked area.  Kids move ball around the area trying to kick other balls out while keeping their own ball inside the area.  Ball out of the area (or three times out of the area) means that kids sits on the perimeter.  Last one in wins.

3.     Red Light, Green Light – Kids line up and coach is a distance away facing away.  Kids dribble toward coach on green light and must stop on red light.

4.     Character square –Mark a square area.  Assign each side of the square a name of some character the kids know.  (Let the kids pick the characters.)  Coach calls out a character and kids have to dribble their ball to the line marking that side of the square and stop the ball on the line.

5.     Relay Races – Two or three teams in a short line take turns dribbling one ball per team up and back in a team race.

6.     Cone dribbling – Set up a small course using cones or parents or both for the kids to dribble through.  If you don’t let the return trip follow the same route you can send one kid off, then another after the first gets out a few cones, etc. This lets every kid participate at once.

7.     Punt the ball from hands – Have the kids pick up the ball with their hands, drop it and punt it before it hits the ground.  While this is really goalie practice, it is a good skill to develop coordination and also can be done at home. Try with either foot.

8.     Long Kicks – Match up kids that can kick about the same distance and let the kids just kick back and forth as far and hard as they can.  The objective is to strengthen their legs and learn to kick hard with either foot.  Try to spend five minutes on this one every session.

9.     Follow the Leader – kids take turns dribbling and are encouraged to do something creative or silly while doing so.

Thank you!

Dave Bachiochi