U4 Curriculum
4v4 diamond (no goalkeepers) · 60-minute sessions · 10 weeks
Welcome, coach! You do not need any soccer background for this age — if you can play pretend, you can coach U4. Your whole job is to get every child a ball, turn every activity into a story, and send them home begging to come back. Keep each game short, join in yourself, and cheer like crazy.
What this season builds toward
- Make friends with the ball — hundreds of happy touches every session.
- Spark imagination — every game is a story with pirates, animals, and monsters.
- Fall in love with soccer so they cannot wait for next week.
- Move in every way: run, stop, turn, chase, balance, celebrate.
- Learn that trying IS winning — no lines, no laps, no one is ever out.
Fall 2026
Fall Break Oct 10–17 — no soccer (between Weeks 6 and 7)
Spring 2027 (provisional)
* provisional — dates not yet confirmed
Game day — 4v4 — the 1-2-1 diamond
Play a 1-2-1 diamond: one defender, two wide players, one forward. Managing the game simply is your most important job — set kids up to succeed with structure, not volume. Guide by asking questions instead of shouting instructions, coach the players OFF the ball, and never ask anyone to boot the ball away with no purpose: we want control, passing, dribbling and movement.
- No goalkeepers — every player attacks and defends together.
- Get wide when attacking to create space; no one "stands back."
- Rotate players frequently so every child learns every position.
- Focus on spacing and fun, not results.
- Defender
- Stay connected and help behind the play.
- Wide players
- Stretch the field; look to pass and dribble forward.
- Forward
- Be ready to receive and finish — and help defend too.
A letter-size document — cover, all ten weeks with QR codes, game-day guide, and parent notes.