Modified Rules For Small-Sided Games

By Richard Jay, President, Great Basin Youth Soccer League

Great Basin Youth Soccer League had the opportunity to take over a long-time recreational league in Northern Nevada in 2007. This organization was run by very dedicated soccer enthusiasts, and was quite successful.

Upon taking over, we decided to utilize the U.S. Soccer Small-Sided Games guidelines.

Initially the coaches were taken aback.. Comments such as, "We don't follow FIFA," "We set our own rules,", "We don't need any sanctioning body," and, "What is FIFA?" were soon replaced by, "Wow, this is pretty cool."

We still have coaches that insist on allowing throw-ins on games at and below the U7 level, though Law 15 clearly states no throw-ins with this age group, as they don't have the hand-eye coordination to make a proper throw.

I thought I would share some of the philosophy with the small-sided games concept. These are soccer games with fewer players competing on a smaller-sized field. These are fun games that involve the players more because fewer players are sharing one ball.

I hope you take the time and read the material. It has helped us build a strong recreational program. Here are some links from US Youth Soccer:

• U6: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/coaches/ADDENDUM_U6.pdf
• U8: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/coaches/ADDENDUM_U8.pdf
• U10: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/ADDENDUM_U10.pdf
• U12: http://www.usyouthsoccer.org/assets/coaches/ADDENDUM_U12.pdf