Teaching Life Skills Through Soccer and Making Soccer FunMackenzie MacLeod

Life Skills• Sportsmanship• Respect• Leadership• Responsibility• Teamwork

How do we get our students to do it?• Model it• Expect it• Teach it• Praise it• Discuss it• Correct it• Acknowledge it• Reinforce it• Reward it

SportsmanshipGood

• Congratulate the winner

• Don’t accuse winner of cheating

• Shake hand with opponents

• Don’t brag about winning

Bad• Cheating• Arguing with “referee”

or teacher• Blaming teammates

for mistakes• Trash talking• Taunting• Showing off

Respect• Treat teammates, opponents, teacher with

respect, courtesy and consideration• Avoid/prevent; put downs, name-calling, trash-

talking, insults, disrespectful verbal/non-verbal conduct

• Never taunt or be “showy”• No negative cheers, name-calling, trash-talking**Treat others the way you want to be treated**

More on Respect• Be considerate to other students• Accept personal differences of other students• Be polite• Please • Thank – you

Leadership• Focus on good; don’t dwell on the negative• Never use “I can’t”• Learn to put a positive spin on negatives• Do the right thing even if no one else is watching• Lead by example• Help your classmates

Responsibility*Responsible behavior in sports responsible behavior in other areas• Doing the right thing• Being accountable for your actions• What are the expectations?• Consequences if rules are not followed• Consistency is the key to responsibility• Do what you say you are going to do• Give students jobs they must do• Be trustworthy

Teamwork• You must always work with people to achieve the

same goal• What happens when the ball doesn’t get passed?

How does it make you feel?• Winning and losing is not the emphasis• Emphasize good passes, cooperative efforts, etc.

• Working together gets things done faster

Sports, Soccer can Teach:• Respect• Responsibility• Sportsmanship• Teamwork• Leadership• Positive Attitude

Making Soccer Fun• Knock-out (dribbling)• Red Light, Green Light (dribbling)• Monster Trucks (Getting used to the ball)• Lady in the Park (Passing and Dribbling)• SpongeBob Square Pants (Dribbling and Defense)• Under the Bridge (Passing)• Land on Mars (Passing Weight)• Head it Catch it (Heading)• Shooting U (Shooting)• Steal the Bacon (Dribbling, shooting, passing)• Relay Race (Dribbling, Shooting, Passing)

Knock-Out (Dribbling)Students stay in a coned off area dribbling around and try to knock each others’ ball out of the area. If a players ball gets knocked out they must do 5 Jumping Jacks and then should re-enter the playing field.

Red Light, Green Light (Dribbling)• Continuous• Red Light: Stop • Green Light: Go• Yellow Light: Slow• Blue Light: Sit on the Ball• Gold Light: Toe Touches• Silver Light: Foundation

Monster Trucks• “Rev your engine”• Move the ball back and forth over the ball• Move the ball side to side over the ball• Drive you truck around the gym (dribble it)

Lady in the Park• Students Dribble the Ball as Bumble Bees

(everyone had a ball)• Teacher runs around as the Lady in the Park• Students kick the ball into lady’s legs (passing) to

sting her• After many stings she will “die” (fall over)

SpongeBob Square Pants• Same as sharks (Plankton) and Minnows

(SpongeBob)• Students try to dribble across the gym without

having their ball stolen away by a Plankton• If their ball gets stolen they become a Plankton

Under the Bridge• Students get a partner• Partner 1 spreads their legs• Partner 2 tries to pass the ball through their

partners’ legs. • Every time the ball goes through their partners leg the group gets a point

Landing On Mars• Each player has a ball• Players try to pass their ball so that it lands on the

surface of mars (a cone circle a certain distance away)

Head it, Catch it• Teacher tosses the ball to a student if they say

catch it the student should head it, if they say head it the student should catch it

Shooting U• Students stand in a horseshoe facing the goal• Teacher says ready, aim, fire• Students fire (shoot) the ball into the goal

Steal the Bacon (# game)• Break up into at least 2 group• Can be 4, 6, 8, etc. • Give kids a number from 1 to # of kids on team• Give other team the same #s• Teacher will call a number the two students who have that number will try to get the ball and score. • The soccer ball is the bacon

Relay Races• Have them be continuous and put students in

groups of 2• Make them interesting• Ex: • Dribble to the line, do 20 toe touches, dribble to line 2

stop your ball with your nose, stand up spin around the ball 3 times, dribble back an shoot. • Once the ball goes in the goal your partner goes

Sources• Skyhawks Soccer Ages 4-6• Skyhawks Life Skills Through Sports