Hello everyone!

During the off season, Airdrie District Soccer Association (ADSA) decided to attempt to implement micro soccer or byte-sized soccer into the U6 boys and girls outdoor season for 2010. The underlying concept of this program is to ensure maximum time for each child to handle the soccer ball, thus improving skill development at an early age.  Micro soccer has been successfully introduced and integrated into various international soccer communities, so this was not a concept that was a local idea and attempted for introduction without any history of success.  

The decision to introduce and integrate micro soccer to the U6 boys and girls teams in the 2010 outdoor ADSA season was made for many reasons, which included following the lead of the Alberta Soccer Association and the Calgary Soccer Association which have successfully integrated the concept into their U6 programs (its always good for a sport when all levels and regional associations within a specific community are working together and following similar programs) as well as trying to get each child maximum time with the ball to assist their skills development.  This has shown results with children now playing in their respective U8 and U10 programs having an overall increase in skill sets and soccer development.

Like many concepts, it can be difficult to determine whether the parameters of that concept fit within all environments or situtations.  As has been noted and commented on by many parents and coaches of the U6 boys and girls participating in the ADSA Outdoor 2010 season this year, the introduction has resulted in some notable challenges to overall success.  This introduction occurred as a result of the ADSA Board attempting to be proactive in the development of the soccer skills of the children within the Airdrie community.

The outline of the 1 hr scheduled time for a game between 2 teams on each designated soccer pitch or field, was delivered to all coaches who attended the Coaches Clinic on April 11 2010 (which coaches were given about 2 weeks notice to attend).  Some coaches could not make it to the information session however, and as a result, there may have been some coaches who did not receive information on micro soccer and the change to the game format portion of the scheduled one hour time at the fields for their team(s).

The outlined format for 2010 season games for U6 has been for each team to warmup and have skills and drills development for the first 20 minutes. This was to be followed by splitting each team into 2 teams so as to have A1 vs B1 on one half of the regular field and A2 vs B2 on the other half, playing games simultaneously on the one soccer pitch but playing across the width of the field, not playing down the length of the marked field.  Then a 5 minute break for the kids and the final half of the game (15 minutes) was to have A1 vs B2 and A2 vs B1 on the two fields parellel to each other within that one marked field. 

Please note that the currently outlined fields provided for the U6 outdoor season are the same size (give or take a few inches) as those micro soccer fields used in the Calgary District Soccer Association.  The intention of splitting the Airdrie fields was to get more children in contact with the ball in a competitive situation or game within those boundaries.  However, there have been challenges with that!

After the first 2 weeks, there have been comments and feedback provided to ADSA board members such that a review of micro soccer introduction was scheduled by the ADSA Board members involved with the U6 program.  Those ADSA board members met yesterday Saturday May 1 2010. Brad Rinkel, U6 Boys director, was unable to attend as this meeting was setup quite quickly to respond to the feedback provided. We met to discuss the opportunity to revise the format of the scheduled hour to meet the intention of micro soccer (which is to maximize ball time for each child) and to meet coaches, parents and the childrens expectations from previous experience and from the noted challenges experienced with having 2 games simultaneously occuring within a limited space area.

The results of that discussion was to provide the following change to the format of how that scheduled hour was to be divided (effective immediately):

1.    first 15 minutes designated for warmup, skills and drills of each team on one half of the field (divided by the midfield line)

2.    second 10 minutes designated for an intra squad game to run across one half of the field, from sideline to sideline, divided by the midfield line, with the goal posts

        marked by the coloured pilons in each equipment bag but set in from the sideline by 2 or 3 yards to prevent crowding or interference with spectators sitting there 

3.    5 minute break

4.    The 2 teams schedule to play will play a game each other within the confines of the outlined fields designated with the 2 permanently mounted goalposts, with 2 x 12

    minute halves and a 1 minute stoppage in between for a water break or rest 

Part 2 provides the players of each team more time with the ball in a game situation when playing the intrasquad game and is a great transition to the game on the full sized field.

It is every intention of the ADSA Board to provide a positive experience for the players, parents and coaches involved in the U6 program. We believe the revision made will meet those expectations.  All the comments and feedback provided were taken seriously, and for those who offered it, thank you for those comments, because without speaking about challenges and opporunities to improve the games for the players, the ADSA Board cannot react.  I would like all of you to note, that the ADSA Board did react quickly to the feedback and believe the change in the format to meet the needs more effectively for all involved, plus integrate more time with the ball in a game situation for each child.  A win for everyone.