The 6 Week Skills Programme

The 6 Week Skills Programme Street Soccer is a revolutionary approach to developing skill for young players and above all this will give them the essential tools for learning and life.

The founding principle behind the 6 week skills programme is:

“It’s more than just football”

The aim of this programme is to help children become winners in life. Football is the vehicle. We don’t just want to help kids become great footballers. Ultimately we want to help them become great people.

The 6 week skills programme aims to develop…

• Life Skills

• Lifelong Learning Skills

• Confidence

• Positive Attitude

The Themes

Dreams and Goals – Making positive choices – Taking Action – Taking Responsibility – Positive Attitude – Making Mistakes

The program has 4 stages Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum all with new challenges. Bronze and Silver cover the first 6 themes and then Gold and Platinum cover 6 new themes.  The total program allows for 24 weeks of skills provision taking a young person almost through a entire academic year of skills training.

Our programme has weekly posters that can be placed around the school to reinforce learning in a trendy, cool way. We also provide hand out key cards after each session for children to take away and learn how they can apply these topics below, also these key cards will have a direct link to their 6 skills on the ISSA website – so they can practice in their own time (sustaining activities outside of school and club hours). The primary resources are intended to build on the effective work that many schools and settings are already doing to develop social and emotional skills.

Each week children will be taken through the 6 different themes (example Poster below).

 

 

Traditional football coaching vs ISSA coaching

Every year thousands of volunteer coaches work with many thousands of young people – unfortunately too many are too intense with poor attitudes to coaching and the game. They over emphasise winning, competition and poor behaviour etc. Coaches must focus on the big picture that goes far beyond expectations – developing character, integrity, honesty and respect. Qualities that will enrich them forever – this is real winning.

Remember, a coach’s work and influence lasts for a lifetime.

“They may forget what you said – but they will never forget how you made them feel” – Carl W Buechner

Principles

• It’s about kids!

Not the game or the coaches – kids! Measure your success not by games won but by the number of children who won – those who have learned lessons for life.

Kids first, player second and sport third.

These are our priorities.

Develop the Human Being

Most children are not the stars of the team – they play then move onto other things in their lives. What then is the coach’s priority? Simple – development as a person! Give them experiences that will enhance their character – things like hard work, determination, teamwork, sacrifice, respect and being able to deal with both adversity and success.

Develop a Fit and Healthy Person

Modern life is too sedentary for too many young people. We need to encourage and educate them to make a life-long commitment to good health and fitness by promoting a healthy diet, exercise, drinking water, good hygiene and behaviour. We don’t ‘turn off’ if some children are a little clumsy or overweight – coaches often forget such kids. These are the most important to keep involved over the long-term and are a challenge for you us as the coaches!

Build a love of the sport for each player. We will put together season plans for the young people with a series of building blocks of development. Trust – the last building block where the children know that you care for them as people. How do you do this? Sell your sincerity, values, beliefs and philosophy of coaching to them – lead by example. In the first practice, let them know the rules, objectives, behaviours etc, in a positive way.

The ISSA 6 Week Skills Programme also provides a highly compressive physical education programme for children. The programme has been developed by a team that includes sports coaches, movement and fitness specialists, health consultants, learning specialists and PE specialists. The structure of the Skills programme introduces a variety of generic sports movement and physical skills, which are then progressed into a series of mini games, and finally into Street Soccer specific skills and games. The entire programme covers the complete physical development of 6 – 11 years of age.

“It’s more than just football”

How do we coach this programme? The basic philosophy behind Street Soccer coaching is that the player is in control of their own learning. Player-centred learning has been given much lip service in recent times. When we say that players should be in control of their own learning, it means that they should be allowed to make their own mistakes and try their own ways of approaching challenges. Children should also be able to set their own goals and expectations, and develop at their own pace. It should also be the children that will find their own weaknesses, and ways to address them. The coach has a vital role in questioning and facilitating the players as they go through this process. This does not mean that coaches tell the players the answer, however.

When create the optimal learning environment, we are aware of potential blocks to learning. These elements can limit or stop learning from happening. Blocks to learning include fear. Fear can comprise of fear of failure, fear of looking stupid in front of peers, or fear of rejection by the coach. Lack of confidence is linked with fear. Children who are fearful, or lack confidence will be less likely to try things and experiment with new ideas. A lack of self-confidence may also lead to a lack of self-motivation and enjoyment. This in turn is linked with laziness and boredom. In order to optimally learn, we believe that children must be motivated from within (intrinsically motivated). They should want to participate is sessions because the experience itself is enjoyable.

Resources for the course include:

• 1 set of Posters for the school following the themes

• Handout cards for the kids, following the themes with access to online skills training videos for kids to learn skills in their own time.

• Offical ISSA 6 week skills certificates of attendance for kids ROA

• Optional Street soccer dvd featuring 100 street soccer and freestyle moves. More info found at www.ballfusion.com If you are a coach and would like to licence this package please click here If you are a school and would like to run this program at your school please contact us to find out who you ISSA trained coaches are in your area.