Week 7 · U6
First touch and receiving
Objectives — what the players will do
- 1Stop a moving ball softly with one touch
- 2Take the first touch away from the person chasing
- 3Try controlling the ball with both feet
Play 1 — starts when the second player arrives
Partner Ping
As players arrive they pair up and roll or pass balls to each other. Challenges: can you stop it dead? Can you stop it with your other foot? Can you stop it and turn away? Odd numbers join a coach — nobody stands around.
Practice — the one taught activity of the night
Explorer's First Touch
Scatter little cone gates around a square. Partners pass to each other; the receiver takes their FIRST touch through the nearest gate like an explorer through a doorway, then dribbles back and returns the pass. The coach wanders around as a slow, silly giant — take your first touch AWAY from the giant!
Roll the ball in by hand, make the gates extra wide, and send the giant home.
The giant speeds up, or the receiver must shout which gate they are taking before the pass arrives.
Play 2 — always finish playing the real game
4v4 — Soft Touch Bonus
Normal 4v4 games, but the coach loudly celebrates every soft first touch: "What a cushion!" Watch for players peeking before the ball arrives — name it when you see it.
Key coaching points — in your own words
- ·Soft feet! Pretend the ball is an egg — don't crack it.
- ·Can you take your first touch into open space, not under your feet?
- ·Peek before the ball gets to you — where will you go next?
- ·Both feet are magic feet. Try the other one!
Add gentle chasers everywhere so every first touch has to go somewhere on purpose.
Slower passes, bigger spaces, and rolling by hand until feet feel ready.
Game-day focus — watch for this on Saturday
Watch for one soft first touch per player and celebrate it by name. Diamond shape: get wide when we have the ball, everyone runs back when we lose it, rotate positions, no booting.
Message to forward to your parents
This week we practiced soft first touches — stopping the ball like it is an egg. Roll a ball to your child at home and watch the cushion they have learned!
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.
5 Beginner Passing Drills For Football / Soccer | Joner Football
Watch the night before to understand the idea
Five simple partner-passing progressions with clear technical detail on inside-of-the-foot contact and first touch. A good pre-Week 1 refresher on what clean technique looks like at this age. Lift the coaching points, then wrap them in games.
Watch on YouTubeBest Beginner Footwork Drills — U6 & U8
Your PRACTICE part — the one thing you teach mid-session
First-touch and footwork comfort under chase pressure — feeds directly into Week 1's brave-first-touch theme.
Watch on YouTube