First Kicks/Fun Football Program

Bream Bay United run a Fun Football/First Kicks program in accordance with the New Zealand Football Whole of Football Plan to provide young children with a fun and rewarding experience.  First Kicks is for 4-6 year olds and Fun Football is for 7-8 year olds. Players who are turning 9 this year play in the 9^th grade.

Training is on Thursdays 4-5pm and on Saturday morning they have mini games starting at 8.15-9.30.  Once a month the teams head into Whangarei and play in a festival against other Whangarei Clubs.

The football season runs from April through to the end of August. You will be provided with a uniform for the season, and each player needs to get their own football boots, shin guards and socks.  We have a number of 2nd hand boots at the club.

Parents are encouraged to positively engage with the coaches and players.  All help is welcome at training and on game day.

First Kicks

Early engagement for players as young as 4 years old into the game helps allow the children to opportunity to discover the game, provide for learning basic fundamental movement skills and create positive football experiences. Guidelines

• No competitive game
• Children play together informally to meet the personal/emotional needs of the youngsters
• Lots of chances to score goals and enjoy mini challenges
• Encourage participation in a variety of additional activities to develop physical literacy (e.g. running, jumping, throwing, etc)
• Parents and game leaders bring out the fun of football through guiding and supporting their children to understand the basic rules of first kicks football

Fun Football

At this age, football should be primarily played in a playful environment that emphasises self-discovery. This continuity into early engagement develops crucial factors for the future of the players such as the love for the game, game intelligence and physical literacy. Built on a common fundamental skills base, all players can be empowered to progress back and forth between the different pathways at a later stage. Players are more aware of the rules of the game and start to recognise the opportunities to play with and for each other. They are able to develop basic football techniques and during training can be exposed to games that have specific technical outcomes such as developing shooting techniques under pressure by an opponent. It is the role of parents and game leaders to support their understanding through enabling all players the opportunity to play without restrictions and too much instruction. Guidelines

• Emphasise playing games with minimal interference from game leaders and parents
• Favour as many opportunities as possible to play football – ‘let the game be the teacher’
• Offer activities where excitement and enjoyment are the main objectives and extrinsic factors such as winning are not emphasised
• Let the player’s play with minimum restrictions and little instruction – ‘keep it simple’ 
• Keep the adult pressures of winning out of fun football

First Kicks / Fun Football (5^th – 8^th grade) Game Rules

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