Are there any coaching tips you can provide regarding lesson plans for 7- and 8-year old lacrosse players just beginning to learn the game?
If I was to start a practice for 7- and 8-year olds, this is how I would do it. This is assuming you already have the team and you are creating the first practice for one hour.
First thing's first--at ages 7 and 8, kids just do things for fun. They might have signed up for different reasons but, when they try playing, they have to have fun or they won't want to continue playing.
You can do this in many different ways. This depends on your kids--some like to shoot and others like to do face-offs. I would just try to be a very high energy coach that the kids like to put in the hard work for. I would do a lot of high fives and be that fun coach. This will mean so much to the kids and they won't want to leave the lacrosse field.
Step two is to start practice with one of the most fun drills for your kids, like a shooting drill. After that you can get to basics.
This is how I would run a sample practice:
- Five minutes of stretching
- 15 minutes of fun shooting drills
- 15 minutes of ground balls
- 15 minutes of passing drills
- Five minutes of talking about how to guard someone (body position)
- Five minutes of scrimmaging
The key is to start the day and to end the day on a high note. That way they will want to come back.
The thing that is important is these kids have time to get better. If they are starting to develop a passion for the game at that age, that will help more than anything. Players that have the passion for the game are the kids that get better on their own. Plus, the more they play, the more questions they will ask on how to get better over time.
Make sure you can show them how to do things before they do it so they can see it before. Learning the how to do the basics is a must as a coach unless you have a former player or high school player to help.
For more great lacrosse tips, check out CoachGafner.com
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