Thank You

We are so grateful for the coaches who have volunteered to lead and serve the children and young adults signed up to play this summer. This will be a very different season for many of you who have coached before. For those of you who have never coached soccer, this style of play will be a great place to begin. Together we will give our kids a great and positive experience in the midst of a really strange season for our community.

Social Distancing and Soccer?

The Board of Bayside Soccer has researched and worked very hard to still offer a program to the families of Delta County. The steps we are taking are based upon the recommendations of the CDC, U.S. Soccer, and SAY Soccer (saysoccer.org). We have limited team sizes, changed to small-sized 3v3 games, and developed a coaching plan that allows for competition, challenge, and skill-development with minimal contact. Because of the hard work put in to develop these changes you get to focus on being a coach and creating a fun environment for the kids on your team. 

Here is how we will social distance the kids during practice:

The numbers of players will not be equal across teams, but generally each team should have at least 6 players. We encourage you to set up boxes like those pictured above. The colored cones are important because they allow the coach to direct the player with greater clarity, and help with different drills we have created. Colored cones will be provided for each team. Each player is assigned to a box. If you have an uneven number of players please adapt as you see fit.

(Remember: It is okay if players make contact at certain times. Do not be too concerned about that. Just continue to encourage staying in their boxes as much as possible.)

Various drills are being developed to help teach dribbling, passing, team control, shooting, and throw-ins. If you come up with something using this grid system please let Coach Joe know. We would love to build our collection of coaching strategies for future coaches.

Here is an example of a drill for passing and trapping (receiving):

3v3 Game Play?

There are tremendous benefits to 3v3 play. Our Academy uses this format in our local competition and has had great success in building up novice players. The benefits of 3v3 play are:

  1. Increased player involvement.
  2. A better understanding of teamwork and player movement.
  3. Maximized touches on the ball.
  4. Increased time to make decisions and try new things.
  5. Easier for coaches to assess each player.
  6. Increased chances of scoring a goal for all players (this creates incredible motivation in players).

3v3 play is a great way to introduce players to the sport of soccer and is used by some of the top Brazilian soccer programs and Iceland (which has proven to develop some of the most technically gifted players in the world). We view the 3v3 style of play as a building block to the full 11v11 game played by our successful and growing High School program.

First it is important to see the whole program at a birds-eye view. The diagram below shows the entire field layout for the 2020 summer season. Make note of the field locations.

 

This next diagram shows multiple things that are important to how we run our small sided games this year.  Please note that the players on the sideline are distanced using cones. Coaches should set up enough cones 6 feet apart to distance their players on the sidelines. Encourage players to remain near their cone to remain distanced. Teams will be on opposite sides of the field this year as well.

There will be no goalies and only three players will be on the field per team. The red team represents one possible way to organize your team. The blue represents another way to organize. However you will note that 3v3 play is very fluid. Players will move all over the field as they learn to work together to move the ball and defend.

Here are a few things to know when playing. The full rules can be found back under the coaching page.

  • Games will be 20 minutes long with a 2-3 minute half time.
  • Substitutions can be made at any stoppage of play.
  • All attacking players must be on the the attacking side of the field to score. For example if the red team has the ball and a player on the red team is still on their defensive side the goal will not count.
  • The ball cannot be touched by anyone inside of the goal box. If an attacking player touches the ball inside the box the defense gets a goal kick. If the defense touches the ball inside of the box the attacking team gets a penalty shot from either the hashmark (8-9 DIV) or the halfway mark (10-12 and 13-15 Divisions).

Finally, Coach Joe and Tana Porath will be available to answer questions before and after each session. During the 8-9 Division Coach Joe will be available for coaches during the practice if needed. We are truly grateful that you have decided to give your time and energy. We know that your efforts will give these kids a great soccer program this year.