"Micromanagement is often cited as the worst trait a manager can have when working with their employees. This is no different with coaching youth sports."
My kids initially learned to love the game by playing, even when they were very young no really coaching or training happen until U9 and that might be even too young for some IMO.
They played with friends, neighbors, pickup futsal, or YMCA foam ball leagues until they were asking to play on the grass pitches.
They both learned a bunch by watching, attending events, and being around the game and still do today I hope.
The other article on this site is relevant to this: Futsal: Is This Simple Game the Missing Link in American Youth Soccer?
https://www.stack.com/a/futsal-the-missing-link-in-american-youth-soccer
"Johan Cruyff, the Dutch forward widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players in history, once said, "I trained about 3-4 hours a week at Ajax when I was little. But I played 3-4 hours every day on the street. So where do you think I learned to play football?"
The answer is quite obvious. Unstructured play is arguably one of the best activities children can participate in. Give them space and let them create their own reality, or soccer field, or whatever. Michael Beale, former Chelsea youth coach, once said, "Give kids a ball, (and) they'll figure the rest out." In an era of organized playdates and parental fear of children skinning their knees, how do we get kids to simply
play?
Street soccer is simply picking up a ball, finding some space, and playing. There is no coaching and no parents, just kids creating a love affair with the soccer ball. There are no overzealous coaches screaming what to do at every turn and essentially joysticking their players for 60 minutes. Young players need to learn to play with freedom, flair and creativity, which is what Brazil, Spain, France, Belgium, Holland and Germany have successfully done. They've created players of such unquestionable skill and IQ that they have largely dominated at producing the best players in the world. All these federations revamped their programs to get better after hitting various low points internationally. Yet ironically, the U.S. men's national team doesn't even qualify for a World Cup in a region where they should be a shoo-in, and yet little has changed.
It seems that American children won't be spending 3-4 hours a day playing soccer in the streets anytime soon. But how can we start making up the gap? I believe the introduction of futsal could be exactly what American youth soccer needs"
One of things they continue to do is futsal (even if that means playing with adults) unstructured play and training at the beach for example and they want coaches that support this by making this fun even if its just a few pointers or some light organization to get the events going.
Never really enjoyed the joy-stickers, or set pattern type of coaching for youth, prefer the kids be taught creativity and have freedom within the team to manage things among themselves when possible.