Week 2 · U4
Getting the ball back
Objectives — what the players will do
- 1Chase a coach who has the ball and never give up
- 2Poke the ball away with a toe
- 3Win the ball and dribble it home
Play 1 — starts when the second player arrives
Keep Your Puppy
Everyone dribbles their puppy (ball) around while coaches prowl in slow motion trying to steal puppies. Kids protect and run. Any stolen puppy is dramatically returned within seconds — the fun is the chase, never the loss.
Practice — the one taught activity of the night
Doggy Steals the Bone
Coaches (and brave parents) dribble balls slowly around the area. The kids are the doggies: hunt in a pack, poke a ball away with a toe, and dribble the bone home to the doghouse (a coned corner). The robbed coach wails theatrically and immediately picks up another ball — no waiting, endless bones.
The coach stops the ball and guards it weakly — the doggy just has to poke it free and take it.
After the steal, dribble the bone home while the coach lumbers after it in slow motion, always a step too late.
Play 2 — always finish playing the real game
Chase-It-Back Game
Play a real 4v4 game. Tonight the loudest cheers go to anyone who chases back and wins the ball. Name every ball-winner out loud — defending is just stealing, and stealing is fun.
Key coaching points — in your own words
- ·Chase, chase, chase — never give up!
- ·Poke the ball away with your toe!
- ·Lost your ball? Be a ball detective and get it back!
- ·You stole it — what a doggy!
Coaches dribble a bit quicker and shield a little, so the steal takes two or three tries.
Coaches stand still with the ball and act helpless — every poke wins the bone.
Game-day focus — watch for this on Saturday
4v4 diamond — everyone attacks AND defends, no one stands back; rotate everyone and cheer the chasers as loud as the scorers.
Message to forward to your parents
Today the kids were puppies stealing bones — chasing the ball and poking it away with a toe. Dribble slowly around the yard and let them rob you again and again; groan loudly every time.
This week's two videos
Every session is Play-Practice-Play: kids play from the moment they arrive, you teach ONE thing in the middle, then they play again. Watch the prep video the night before — the activity video is that middle PRACTICE part.
How to Coach Kids During Games | Minute Clinic by MOJO
Watch the night before to understand the idea
Ninety seconds on game-day restraint: what to say, when to stay quiet, and how to let kids solve the game themselves. Watch before the Week 4 Apply game day and count your sideline instructions — fewer than ten is the win.
For U4: Go further than the video at U4 — say almost nothing during the game and cheer everything.
Watch on YouTubeHow to Play 'Stuck in the Mud' - Fun Drill for Youth Soccer/Football
Your PRACTICE part — the one thing you teach mid-session
Classic tag energy with a ball — a pure chase-and-rescue game your youngest players already love. Use it in Weeks 1 and 3 as your 5 Second Rule seed: taggers hunt in bursts, and you praise the fastest chaser, not just the escape artist. It teaches 'lose it, chase it' without a single tactical word.
For U4: Coaches are the taggers; freed players rescue instantly so nobody stands frozen long.
Watch on YouTube