Green Eggs and Ham Season Plan
Fall 2026 · 7 weeks · AYSO 815 · 10U Boys
Coached by Chip LaFleur and Patrick Reilly.
This is the season at a glance: where we’re headed, how we coach, what game day looks like, and how we’ll wrap things up. The week-to-week schedule lives on the schedule page; this is the bigger picture.
One note before we start: this is mostly a new team. Eleven kids, and most of them are playing together for the first time. That changes nothing about where we’re going and a lot about how we start. The first two weeks are about getting to know each other, getting a ball on every foot, and building the habits everything else sits on. And yes, the kids named themselves Green Eggs and Ham. Their team, their name.
Vision
The job this fall is to turn this group into a team that:
- Has fun and wants to come back. AYSO first principle. Every kid should enjoy Tuesday and Thursday.
- Plays with structure. Not formations on a chalkboard, just “I know where I am, where my teammates are, and what my job is right now.”
- Competes hard and plays clean. Effort on defense, respect for teammates, opponents, and refs.
Success isn’t win-loss. Success is:
- Every kid improves at least one concrete skill.
- The team breaks out of “swarm ball” and holds shape for stretches of a game.
- Every player ends the season loving soccer more than they started.
- Saturday’s the best part of the week.
If we hit those, wins will come, and if they don’t, we still did the job.
The Three Priorities
Everything we do, every drill, every small-sided game, every game-day call, is built around three priorities:
- Ball mastery. Every kid gets enough touches that the ball stops being the enemy. First touch, carrying under light pressure, simple turns, both feet.
- Spacing (anti-clumping). Stop the swarm. Zones, lanes, “be where the ball isn’t yet.” Positional, not formational. We want kids to feel where they belong, not memorize a chart.
- Aggressive forward play. Keep the ball in the opponent’s half. Press when we lose it. Shoot when we see the goal. Defenders push up when we have the ball.
These carried the team through last spring and they hold up. For most of this group they’re brand new, so we install them from the ground floor.
The Season at a Glance
Practices are Tuesday and Thursday, 6:15 to 7:15 PM, at Douglas Walker Park SW. Games are Saturdays. Each week anchors on one focus.
| Week | Practices | Focus | Saturday |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 1 & 3 | Team culture, ball at every foot | No game |
| 2 | Sep 8 & 10 | Ball mastery, position basics | Sep 12, 10:15 AM vs Schenkoske (home) |
| 3 | Sep 15 & 17 | Spacing (anti-clumping) | Sep 19, 10:15 AM vs Long (home) |
| 4 | Sep 22 & 24 | Aggressive forward play | Sep 26, 9:00 AM at Crestwood Middle School vs Courey |
| 5 | Sep 29 & Oct 1 | Restarts and game smarts | Oct 3, 12:30 PM vs Muller (home) |
| 6 | Oct 6 & 8 | Putting it all together | Oct 10, 10:15 AM vs Myers (home) |
| 7 | Oct 13 & 15 | Players’ choice and celebration | Oct 17, 8:30 AM season finale (home) |
The finale kickoff is early. Coffee is encouraged. The full schedule with fields and any changes is always on the schedule page.
How We Coach
We coach to AYSO’s Six Philosophies:
- Everyone Plays
- Balanced Teams
- Open Registration
- Positive Coaching
- Good Sportsmanship
- Player Development
What that looks like for this team:
- Equal playing time. Not “mostly equal.” Tracked on paper.
- Coach effort and decisions, not outcomes. “Great run” beats “great goal.” “Good read” beats “good save.”
- Volume up for energy, not frustration. Positive on the field.
- Positions are assignments, not cages. Kids rotate every game. Everyone tries every spot by midseason.
- Mistakes are the curriculum. A kid trying a pass and losing it is a win, because they’re learning to make decisions.
Practice Structure
Practices are 60 minutes in three blocks, same shape every time so kids know what’s coming. We follow the play-practice-play model that US Soccer teaches its grassroots coaches: start with games, work on one skill, end with the game.
| Time | Block | Lead | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| From about 6:05 | Arrival | Both coaches | Grab a ball, get into the grid, start dribbling. No waiting for practice to “start.” |
| 6:15 to 6:33 | Warm-up games | Patrick | One or two fast, fun games with a ball at every foot. No lines, no laps. |
| 6:35 to 6:50 | Skill of the week | Both coaches | One activity that gets a little harder each round. Kids learn the move inside a game, not in a line. |
| 6:53 to 7:10 | The game | Both coaches | Small-sided games (3v3 to 5v5) so every kid plays the whole time and touches the ball constantly. |
| 7:10 to 7:15 | Huddle | Chip | One question, one cheer, done on time. |
Water breaks are the transitions. The clock has slack built in on purpose, because moving a dozen nine-year-olds between activities takes real time, and we would rather run one activity well than rush through three.
Listening system: when a coach needs attention, they raise a hand and call “Green Eggs!” The kids answer “and Ham!”, take a knee, and stop talking.
Game Day
Pre-game (45 min before kickoff):
- Get there early when you can. The finale is an 8:30 AM kickoff, so plan ahead for that one.
- Re-run the warm-up from Thursday.
- Find one thing for each kid to focus on during the game.
Lineup and subs:
- Equal playing time, tracked on paper.
- Everyone rotates positions over the season. No kid is locked to a role.
- Goalkeeper: at least one full half per kid over the season if they want it. We ask who wants to try; we don’t force it.
During the game:
- Coach voices stay coordinated, one at a time, so kids aren’t pulled in two directions.
- Positive instructions. “Pass to space,” not “don’t be lazy.”
- Refs are volunteers like us, so we let the calls go.
Halftime (5 min): one thing we did well, one thing to do differently, water, done.
Post-game: handshakes. “Good game” to every opposing player. Quick team huddle, one highlight, one thing to take to practice.
Weather and Cancellations
Play is rain-or-shine. Cancellations come from Coach Chip in the team channel.
- Thunder or lightning: clear the field immediately. Wait 30 minutes after the last strike before returning. If strikes continue, practice or game is canceled.
- Flooded or unplayable field: canceled.
- Light rain: we play.
End of Season
The week of the finale, we do a team event: pizza, ice cream, something light. Every kid takes home something small (a certificate, a ball, a trophy). We name one specific thing each kid did well over the season. That’s the memory they carry into spring.
Plan is a starting point. We adjust weekly based on what the kids need. The constants: AYSO philosophy, equal playing time, positive coaching, and two coaches on the same page.