Under 8/9s

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRAINING PHASE: PROMOTION STAGE (Introduction)

GENERAL OBJECTIVE OF THE STAGES OF THIS PHASE 

• Master the basics of the game. 
• Know and accept the characteristics of the center, its operation, colleagues, technicians and forms of training, showing a favorable attitude towards group tasks and those involving effort, assuming the importance and consequences that derive on the organism itself caused by training 

PREBENJAMINES AND BENJAMINES OF 1st. YEAR

• Given the age of the players we will talk about stages in which the main objective is to increase their motor baggage as much as possible. 
• Therefore, rather than looking for the precise execution of any action, what we must achieve is that the player experiences many actions and situations of the game with the maximum possible variants. 
• This motor experience will allow the player to "configure" many of the aspects that will be basic for their subsequent activity in the game, for example: 
  • Ability to perform spatio-temporal calculations. 
  • Finish defining "their" biomechanics in relation to the actions and displacements of football (step prior to the manifestation of the technique and tactics themselves). 
  • Become familiar motorically and conceptually with the most basic situations and concepts of football (attack, defense, 1:1 situations, space occupation, etc.). 
• Therefore, there will not be a strict program of specific objectives of each area, although the coach may include in the activity (depending on the level of the players), some corrections related to the different areas. 
• Other relevant aspects for these Stages are: 
  • The need to start in the habits of "order" and "attention". 
  • The relationship with the parents (especially if it is the first child). It is important in this sense to maintain direct contact with them (the coach himself or the delegate), which allows to give a quick response to the doubts and concerns that may be generated.
  • The need for continuous information on the aspects of operation of the entity (schedules, calls, modifications, etc.). 
• All this implies that in this phase, the figure of the coach must respond to the specific and differentiated characteristics that it presents in various aspects: 
  • The age of the players. 
  • The football-7 competition. 
  • The globality of the training and the objectives of this phase. 
  • Absence of sports experience of the players. 
  • Need for the coach to have knowledge about psychomotricity and about the evolutionary aspects of learning. 
• The need for a specialist increases when we analyze the personal capabilities that he must present to: 
  • Correctly develop the relationship with parents, given the peculiarity that usually involves the first experience in relation to the sports activity of your child. 
  • Ways to correct, treat and motivate appropriate to the age of the players.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO THE AGE OF THE PLAYERS

• The information must be given to the player in a simple and simple way, use technical terms that the child can understand, for example: instead of talking about fast or slow driving with changes of pace, etc., we can talk about taking the ball from this place to that other, arriving before the partner, etc. 
• From the age of 6 the child is able to know what he knows, to value what he knows. Starting from here, if the coach encourages self-evaluation and analysis of the performances, it promotes learning since there will be greater internalization. 
• The child of 6-7 years: still has a physical and active conception of the self (values the partner who scores goals, the highest, etc.). He does not clearly distinguish between external reality and internal psychic experience (he finds it difficult to understand that things are not as he sees them). 
• At the age of 8 a psychological conception of the ego prevails, placing the differences between people based on individual affections rather than actions (you can feel more sympathy for one child than for another even if you score fewer goals). There has been a shift from a physical perspective to a psychological perspective with respect to the age of 7. 
• The coach must take into account that his performance produces an effect on the child's assessments. Example: If you quarrel or encourage him after an action fails. 
• It is at the beginning of well-coordinated and sustained collective activity. He does not yet understand the complex rules with which ball games are far from orthodoxy and often depend on improvised rules at the moment. However, he has a definite awareness of the group as a group (team) to which he belongs and to which he owes something. That is, he knows that he belongs to the team but is not yet able to maintain a high degree of discipline. 
• At 8 years old he is extremely sensitive. He is easily offended and cries often, especially when he is tired: He needs constant attention from the coach and to be praised frequently, individualizing as much as possible the workouts. The attention span is short, it is therefore important in the training session the use of a wide variety of games whose duration is not very long. (*) 

(*) Col Gázquez, Isabel in Sans,A; Frattarola,C "Training in grassroots football" – ED. Paidotribo. 5th edition. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO PROGRAMMING

• Of this Phase-Stages, we will only detail and include in a cycle the three that compose it, since the characteristics of the players cause the work done in these ages to be similar. 
• The variants that the coach can introduce (especially in the third season -Benjamin of first year-), will be given by the specific characteristics of the players, that is:
  • The levels of play they manifest.
  • The categories in which they play.
  • The degree of maturity it manifests.
  • Etc. 
• In these cases (first-year Benjamins who manifest a higher "status" than usual), the proposal would be to introduce aspects corresponding to the second season (second-year Benjamin) into the training schedule. 
• The role of the coach, in the early ages, will be more as a pedagogue, than as a coach, both for dealing with the players, and with the parents themselves. Let play, have fun and guide, rather than improve, correct, etc. 
• In the field of medicine we will limit ourselves to exposing the aspects to be carried out within the established programming. Assuming (and therefore we do not comment on them) the realization of activities related to the diagnosis, treatment and recovery of injuries or incidents that may occur during the activity. 
• In the area of Psychology: to deepen the aspects described in the planning, the trainer can consult what is described in Volume 2.2. "the areas of specialization" in the chapters of Psychology and Team Management. Also in this volume (3.2.) specific contents for each phase/stage are manifested in chapter -1- section D. 
• In the field of technique and tactics, we expose for this season / cycle the following Training Levels (which allow the coach to consult and deepen for the design of the session): 
  • Technique: -1- and -2-. 
  • Tactics: -1-2- and -3-. 
• In the field of competition, the objectives common to the 3 cycles, we will differentiate them in each cycle in relation to the age and maturity of the players, influencing, deepening and demanding their application, more or less, for each of the proposed topics.

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE SEASON/CYCLE

• Experience all aspects of the game, without strict rules or specific objectives. 
• Develop activities with the ball, which allow the coach to guide the execution of the different actions, with the sole purpose of the competition within the same activity. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO THE AGE OF THE PLAYERS

• The player shows greater competence as a team member than as an individual. A step forward occurs that prepares the child for participation in team sports. 
• The player no longer needs as constant praise as in the previous stages. He feels safe and responsible and likes to be trusted. He doesn't like to be treated like a small child, but obviously he can't be treated like an adult either. Their attention span increases, so games and exercises may include more repetitions. 
• In relation to positive or negative "extrinsic reinforcements", we must take into account at this stage: 
  • Take advantage of the effort used by the players, reinforcing it properly. This way we will give the option for less skilled children to see a correct attitude reinforced. 
  • Information about negative actions should be basically corrective. Communicating to a student that he has not done well is not a high benefit if we do not cause another situation in which he can try to do better again, or help him find the cause of the error.
  • The use of negative reinforcers can be effective in the rapid elimination of inappropriate behavior, but it involves a large number of problems that do not make it too recommended: 
  • In the absence of the person punishing, the behavior usually reappears.
  • If the child is not reasoned, he does not internalize the appropriate behavior, and it is easy for him to perceive punishment as an injustice.
  • Punishment may be accompanied by the appearance of fear that is a product of anxiety. Thus, the child will feel insecure, uncomfortable and his level of motivation will drop, which endangers his sports continuity.
  • The fact of giving information about mistakes through negative reinforcers: ridiculing their performance, insulting them, screaming and "embarrassing" are clear examples of punishment. These punishments can cause feelings of frustration, insecurity, self-concept, antipathy towards the coach, etc.
  • Give as much importance to "effort" as to "achievement". Put the emphasis more on effort than on victory. 
• Start of the best age phase for motor learning. The forms of movements already known improve appreciably, new ones are learned and reinforced often without instructions. 
• Speed, agility and basic endurance can be developed especially well. Mobility is decreasing, as age progresses, more attention should be devoted to its development. 
• He behaves even with little judgment, his attitude however is realistic. He analyzes his environment, concentrates on the small details. 
• His ability to concentrate is marked by fickness. The need for movement requires short explanations. The content and methods of the problems to be solved must be presented in a varied way. 
• More mature desire of the player to have social contact. 
• Conscious control of movements is increasing. The anticipation of one's own and others' actions and movements, as well as the ability to react develop very quickly at this age. 
• The imitation of the movement of the example to follow (coach) – also of his particularities -, fundamentally influences the learning of fluency in himself.

(*) Jürgen BrauBbe and others – "grassroots football training programs" – Ed. Paidotribo. 

(*) "Training in grassroots football" – Isabel Gázquez Pérez – ED. Paidotribo.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SEASON IN RELATION TO PROGRAMMING

• Already at this age we will start the work based on an established planning / programming. 
• We propose (especially at this stage), the work by specialists and the development of at least 3 weekly sessions. 
• We will follow, therefore, the programming (levels) foreseen in the different areas of the training of Technique, Tactics and Collective Actions (Slogans of the Universal Foundations). 
• Although we insist on the need for the coach, after making an exhaustive assessment of his players, must establish if the program to be followed is more adjusted to a higher age, or on the contrary must incorporate in his work aspects developed in the previous chapter, so that the aspects proposed in those stages are consolidated, and consequently the activity is adjusted to the needs of its players in order to carry out a logical and coherent process. 
• In the field of Collective Actions, during the session we will carry out a part in which we will work on the established objectives and at least a second part in which we will develop a "real" work, in which in addition to correcting / analyzing the established objective, we will also correct the aspects / slogans that are not executed correctly and that have already been worked previously. 
• The objectives set out in each micro-cycle, will be limited in their statement to the title of the slogan and its corresponding order number (in capital letters the slogan / objective content of the training, in lowercase and in parentheses the foundation to which the slogan corresponds), the content can be consulted in volume 1.2., in order to deepen the concept. In this way the coach will be able to develop and plan the training session correctly. 
• In relation to the technique: in the improvement of the different skills (Level -3-) the different "manifestations" to work are determined in each meso-cycle, however, it is only specified that in each manifestation the "different forms of execution" must be developed, in this case the coach can specify these "forms", reviewing in Volume 2.1 in the tables exposed in Level -3-, where the different ways to work are specified (for example for reception in the table shown on page -34-. 
• In relation to physical preparation: We will not distinguish variants between the 3 cycles / seasons of the process. In any case, the coach must adapt in each cycle the variables (progression, specificity, etc.), in relation to the characteristics of the players and their evolution. 
• In the field of Psychology: we will repeat the objectives set in the Promotion phase, in this case the development of the planning will be more exhaustive, that is, at this stage the results of the training must be manifested in the group (players, parents). 
• To deepen the aspects described in the planning, the trainer can consult what is described in Volume 2.2. "the areas of specialization" in the chapters of Psychology and Team Management. Also in this volume (3.2.) specific contents for each phase / stage are manifested in chapter -1- section D. 
• In the field of technique and tactics, we expose for this season / cycle the following Training Levels (which allow the coach to consult and deepen for the design of the session): 
  • Technique: -3- and -6a-. 
  • Tactics: -4- and -6-. 
• The objectives set out in each micro-cycle will be limited in their statement to the title of the objective and its corresponding level number. The content of each technical-tactical concept can be consulted in depth in volume 2.1 so the coach can correctly develop and plan the training session. 
• It will be very important that the player manifests a good level of coordination and balance aspects. If not, we must alternate in training these "subjects" so that the minimum necessary is acquired, so that the learning of the skill is adequate. 

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF THE SEASON/CYCLE

• Master the Foundations, actions, situations and aspects that make up the basic principles of the game, from an individual perspective of learning. 
• Accept the characteristics and functioning of the activities of training and competition, of the companions, the technicians and the ways of working of the different tasks.