Kick It 4 Kids came to conclusion last Sunday with an excellent full game of touch football between team red and team green.
With teams consisting of kids aged from 6-12 years of age and of all skill levels, we witnessed a fun, exciting and at times compelling game.
A tremendous effort from team Red’s Pavish and Peyton who scored the first two tries of the game. Both showed off some footwork to beat their defender to score.
The red team communicated extremely well in defence and produced some nice short passes to beat defenders.
Not to be outdone, Green team’s Chase S scored his first try of the season after beating as many as four members of the red team to run down the right sideline.
The green team exhibited an improved level of passing as well as strong catching and kicking abilities. This was a great effort to reduce errors in windy conditions.
A 2-1 half time lead to the red team was a fantastic result and showed the balance between the two teams.
As we entered into the second half, kicking became a common trend on touch four and five.
The wind made things difficult, but many of the short kicks remained in play and pinned their opposition deep into their own territory.
Kobi came up with perhaps the try of the day after scooping up a cross kick on his own try line to run the length of the field, and level the scores for team green.
The dead lock remained as time expired, but no player came off the field without a smile on their face.
It was only fitting that we do an elimination bomb challenge to decide the winning team.
We often kicked high balls to the kids following our Thursday night sessions as a warm down, but also to improve hand-eye coordination and catching skills.
Following the first elimination round, Red’s Flynn and Green’s Cohen and Riley remained.
The two boys in green remained unbeaten in the second round to secure the win for their team.
No matter the result, the focus remained the same – have fun, make new friends and learn the game – and all the kids did just that. Well done!
What did we do?
Each Thursday night in October we focused on several skill groups while maintaining a fun, social and sometimes competitive atmosphere.
Week 1 Activities
– Basic Passing
– Basic kicking (grubbering) & target practice
– Draw and pass (2-on-1)
– Try Time (2-on-2 game)
In week one we organised a basic passing drill where the kids would line up in groups of three and pass the ball (backwards) along a line.
This is a common warm up activity for anyone who has played Rugby League, Rugby Union and traditional touch football. For anyone new to this activity, it helps build basic passing skills.
Next we split the kids into teams of two and created two activities, a interesting target kicking activity and an entertaining 2-on-1 draw and pass activity.
These two exercises provided a great indication into the skill levels of all the participants. It was also used to help build confidence.
We ended the night with a thrilling game that encompassed both kicking and passing skills. The game was called Try Time (often called the gauntlet).
Teams were split evenly and each player given a number. One team were the attackers and the other team the defenders.
The coaches would call two numbers from each side with the corresponding kids to enter the 15x10m rectangle.
The aim of the game is for the attackers to score, while the defenders need to stop them. Passes and kicks were allowed.
Plenty of these activities were re-visited to see how all the kids improved, and also to add a competitive element once everyone showed confidence in the activity.
Many of the kids stuck around afterwards and caught bomb kicks from the coaches as a warm down.
Week Two Activities
– Pass Tag (game)
– Initiating the touch & the play the ball
– Attack simulation with play the ball, dummy half and first receiver
– Mini touch football game
In week two we kicked things off with a passing game that focused on communication and short passing.
Pass tag is a lively game where all the kids are in a 10×10 square and split into two teams. The idea of the game is to tag the other team with the ball.
Kids do this by short passes to teammates – the only catch is the ball carrier can’t move.
We followed this up with rucking and playing the ball on the mark.
All the kids initiated the touch on a pad followed by making a play the ball to the side of the touch/pad.
This is such an important aspect of touch football and it’s one thats often foreign when you’re new to the game.
Next was an attacking simulation excise where the kids were allocated into groups of three.
Of the groups of three, one player would initiate the touch and ruck the ball on one of our coaches, the second player would run to dummy half and pass to the third player who was first receiver. The first receiver would run to the next coach and ruck the ball, starting the process again.
These activities help familiarise the very basic attacking structure of touch football to the kids.
We followed this up with an enjoyable mini game of touch football to see what the kids have learnt.
All the players were more direct in attack which is exactly the purpose of the previous activities. We noticed less running backwards and sidewards in an attempt to gain ground.
Week Three Activities
– Kicking to teammate (game)
– Marking up in defence & retreating to the referee.
– Try Time (with retreating defenders)
The third Thursday started with the same cool kicking drill from week 1, however this time with a competitive twist.
All participants had to grubber to a team mate to pick up and score inside the 10m. This would equal 1 point. The kicker and try scorer with the most points at the end of the 10-minute activity would win.
Adding a competitive element helped the kids focus in on the basics of kicking and picking up a loose bouncing ball. We saw significantly less errors than week 1.
Next we worked on defence, in particular marking up, counting numbers and retreating to the referee following the touch.
The kids lined up in groups of three and went against our inspiring coaches. The aim, to communication, make a touch on the coaches and retreat to the mark, before making a second touch.
We followed this up by modifying our Try Time game where the defenders had to retreat to a marker before advancing to make the touch.
Both these encouraging activities helped provide some guidance and structure in defence in preparation for our game in just over a week’s time.
We ended the night with an entertaining mini touch football game. The improvements in defence were noticeable, in particular marking up on an attacking player.
The number of defenders onside increased dramatically. Such was the improvement, no tries were scored in the 15-minute mini game.
Week Four Activities
– Kick Tennis
– Basis Passing + teams race
– Initiating the touch & play the ball + teams race
– Attack simulation + teams race
– Mini touch football game
In the final Thursday night session we focused on teamwork, repeating basic skills activities (in teams) and adding a competitive element throughout the night.
We began with a splitting all the kids into their teams for Sunday’s full game. Each activity in week four was done in their teams (red and green)
We kicked things off with a stimulating game of kick tennis – a super fun staple of any Rugby League or Rugby Union junior’s team.
This exciting activity relies on team work, communication and basic kicking/catching skills.
Next, we did a series activities done in weeks 1-3 and put the teams against each other in a speed race.
First, we starting with our basis passing drill from week one. All passes needed to be backwards and no knock ons.
Second was a repeating our activity from week 2 where we initiated a touch on a pad and rolled the ball. All play the balls had to be correct.
Lastly, we repeated our week two drill where groups of three would act as the play the ball, dummy half and first receiver.
It was fantastic to see the kids pick up the exercises quickly and do them correctly. It showed a clear level of understanding and applying what was learnt in a more competitive environment.
Adding competition into the drill helped all the kids zone-in on doing the basics correct. It also added a new, fun element to a basic drill.
Finally, we ended the night with a mini touch football game. As if a prelude to what was to happen on Sunday, the scores in this game were 2-2.
Some really good tries to Nevaeh, Cohen, Chase and Pavish capped an exciting 10-minute effort.
The most pleasing aspect from all the coaches is the fact all the kids loved being at the fields and enjoyed all the activities. Not only did they have fun, but they also learn the basic aspects of touch football.
Kick It 4 Kids will return in 2022 with an 8-week program from late January.
The new competition will mirror the first school term of the year and will continue to teach many of the aspects seen above.
The competition will be open to all kids aged between 6-13 yrs of age and follow a similar format this the 2021 program.
With an end goal in mind of playing a full 30-minute game, we will help provide all kids with the basic skills to perform well.
Our focus and the most important aspect of the competition is that all the participants have fun, make new friends and feel comfortable.
Registrations are now open for 2022
A special thanks to Grill’d Chermside for providing the kids with some burger vouchers.
Match day photos available for parents or on request.
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