Remember– this is for 8 year olds! The goal is to simplify and clarify what you do once you have the ball, depending on your assigned role. The bolded words are the words I’ve asked the girls to learn and use. So, without further ado:
Soccer in 16 Words
Strikers: Center & Score!
Midfielders: Move it up!
Defenders: Take it to the side! 
Goalie: Grab it!
Everyone: Great players don’t stand and wait for the ball. Great players ….Run up and take it!
Also, we do a group cheer at the start of each half, and we have a cheer for the opposing team. That doesn’t help with scoring, but it does fit the main goal, which is having fun together.
I am an organizational consultant, change advocate, and organizational identity/reputation scholar with a PhD in leadership & organizations. I research, write about, and consult with organizations on the relationships between organizational identity, actions, and purpose. I teach Technology Management, part-time, at Stevens Institute of Technology.
My current research focuses on how social technologies in the workplace can drive organizational change, generate meaning, and catalyze purpose. See the 
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CV: I love how simple these are! Ironically, just two weeks ago I was (temporarily) coaching my 6-year old daughter’s game and was laughing to myself about how they run around the field in a pack — I think even our 6-year old team could benefit from this.
(I’ve been working on some simulation-related research and your rules have some nice overlaps with simplicity in modeling….)
Teppo, so glad that you’re also having this kind of fun!
There is a great opportunity in the Youth Soccer Industry for coaches with “management experience” or a reasonable facsimile thereof (like, um, a PhD). Thus I find many ways to translate MBA 101 tactics into soccer strategies. The analogies are endless.
Except with one or two bits of Youth Soccer advice. If you tell kids that “If they can touch each other, they’re too close”, how does that translate into mgmt advice? …..
But in all seriousness, it’s amazing to me how far (1) KISS, and (2) emphasize your strengths can take them. My husband laughs that the combination of my Quaker Killer Instinct and Mommy Empathy creates for the girls an odd liberatory space that they really enjoy. It’s fun for me too.
Love the simplicity 🙂
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