OMNI U-10 Soccer ‘20

Omni families: on behalf of the Coaching Staff for Omi’s U-10 Soccer team in 2020, we are thrilled and humbled for this opportunity to coach the kids in the Spring. Alejandro Lavie, Dusty Crooke, Joe Hemler and Miller Bell will be working with the kids inside and outside of the field. This will be epic!

We will be preparing a fun but intense season where the focus will be learning life-long skills and values: Respect, Effort, Teamwork.

We’ll have a 10-kid roster, and our training sessions will be structured, thoroughly prepared and super fun.

What’s coming…

Soccer is a great team sport to pickup and develop in. At these ages we are starting to make more concerted passes (I know!), understanding our place in the field and how our contribution to the team success (and failure) affects others. Soccer is athletic, but not rough. It’s as much a physical game as it is a mind effort, and it creates life-long brain connections on control and discipline, teamwork and individual skills.

As I’ve come to learn, there are a few things that U-10 kids can handle today, and some that they will learn along the way. That’s why as Head Coach, I’ve chosen an approach that is simple, structured and familiar, but also challenging.

Training Sessions:

Training sessions will start on March 9 and be held weekly on Mondays at the Morrison YMCA fields in 9405 Bryant Farms Rd, Charlotte from 4:00–5:00pm. Kids will be transported there directly from school in the Omni Bus, and be picked up by you right after.

Borrowing a page from our basketball team, we’ll try to have a short adults v kids game right after practice, if the field’s allow for it, and if you are interested :D.

For trainings, your kids will need to bring:

• Water Bottle
• Shinguards (please check that last year’s are still comfortable if applicable)
• Cleats (Idem as above. Shoes should fit snug, but not tight)
• Shorts without pockets
• Ponytails for kids with long hair, to avoid distractions.
• Remove all jewelry, for their safety.

Training will be structured like this:

• Calisthenics (5 min): with focus on speed and endurance, building the muscles and reflexes needed for a healthy growing body.
• Foot skills (10 min): The basics that, through repetition, help build confidence and tools to overcome in-game situations, including shooting.
• Tactics (20 min): With a tactical whiteboard and focused drills, we’ll learn the basics of throw-ins, goal — kicks, corners, which happen often during a game and that help gain competitive advantage.
• Team Skills (20 min): Drills for passing, building play and team communication
• Values Debrief (5 min): To close it up, we’ll talk about the values learned, and on-game examples. We’ll recognize respect, effort, and teamwork.

Pending coordination of a field, we’ll hold optional informal skill building sessions on Friday afternoons. We’ll send an email when/if we secure the place to practice. Additionally, we’ll be sending short YouTube videos during the week to inspire the kids and prepare them for the practices.

I don’t believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball. — Roy Maurice Keane, top English player

Games:

Games will be held in the same place as trainings, in the Morrison YMCA. Dates will be sent by Dusty Crooke and we’ll send reminders ahead of time.

For games, your kids will need to bring the same things listed above for training, plus

• Uniform (will be provided. Dusty will send more information soon)

Please plan to arrive 20–15 minutes before the kick-off time. Kids need more time than grown ups to get acclimated to new situations, and we’ll need time to warm up, go over the tactics we’ve practiced and arrange the starting line up.

We will do our best to provide as-equal-as-possible time on the pitch as possible, but sometimes this is a tough ask. I’ve chosen a fixed position approach, where our players will have a preferred position and role to play which would only change when they are ready to, or when there’s logistic issues. So, Goalkeepers will be goalkeepers in most trainings and games, and so will defense, forwards etc — although it might take us some time to get there to find where they want to play and feel comfortable —

Sideline cheering is encouraged, but, be mindful that the kids will jump on the field with specific roles to support each other. They will need to listen to the coaches first and foremost.

After each game, a rotating selection of parents will be asked to provide refreshments for all kids in the Team. This helps keep costs down. Dusty will help coordinate.

But, before the refreshments, the Team will meet with the coaches, we’ll do a quick analysis, reinforce the values described above and celebrate success.

Fun Fact: Kids love parent tunnels.. so, Parents are encouraged to build a human tunnel to call in both teams to go under, and receive the cheering they so much like and appreciate.

Thanks for considering and committing to this beautiful sport!

See you soon!