CHARACTERISTICS OF U - 8 PLAYERS ,


Attention span is a not at a "competitive" stage
Inclined towards small group activities.
Always in motion: scratching; blinking; jerking; rocking....
Easily bruised psychologically. They will remember negative comments for a long time. Shout praise. Give "hints".
They want everybody to like them.
Developing physical confidence. (Most are able to ride a two-wheeler.)
Starting to imitate older players or sports heroes. Want the same "gear" as them.
Lack sense of pace. They go flat out until they drop.
Skeletal system growing rapidly. Often results in apparent lack of coordination.
Cardiovascular and temperature regulation system is not developed. Their heart rate peaks quickly and they overheat quickly. make sure that they get adequate water breaks.
Limited understanding with personal evaluation. "If they try hard, they performed well" regardless of the actual performance. Thus, they need to be encouraged constantly, and asked "Now, can you do this?"
Better at recognizing when the ball is out of play, and remembering what goal they are going for... but, in the heat of battle, they will sometimes still forget. They still find it difficult to really be aware of more than one thing at a time.

THINGS YOU CAN EXPECT
Six, seven and eight-year-old players are a bit more compliant than their U-6 counterparts. They will be able to follow 2 or 3 step instructions and are starting to have a good understanding about what it means to play a "game". They are also starting to cooperate more with their teammates. In fact, they now will recognize that they even have teammates by the fact that they occasionally, and I mean occasionally, will pass the ball to a teammate, on purpose. Often, they will repeat the phrase "I can't do that!", but, will quickly run to you to show you that they can, even when they only think that they can. Some other things that you can expect to happen during a season with this age group are:
„h There will be at least 200-300 falls during the season, but, now they will usually pick themselves back up.
„h The puddle in front of the goal is still too tempting to resist.
„h Keep a spare pump in your bag as the players usually do not realize that their ball is flat until they try to kick it, or the coach tells them that it is flat.
„h Some of the girls are a lot tougher than the boys.
„h They will still want to wear a pinnie, even when the color is identical to their shirt.
„h It will be impossible to remember who is whose best friend as you try to make up teams.
School conflicts will come up... please, let them go (they must face their teachers five days a week).
They will wear their uniform to bed.