Try-It: Soccer

AGE LEVEL: Brownies

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Soccer is an international sport played and enjoyed by millions of people of all ages. This sport is played outdoors on soccer fields or on small patches of ground or in indoor soccer facilities. Soccer is played by kicking a ball with the feet. They only player on a team allowed to use their hands is the Goalkeeper. There are three (3) main pieces of soccer equipment for a player: soccer ball, shin guards and long socks. When you practice or play soccer, you should always wear shin guards covered by long socks to prevent injuries. The game is played with two (2) goals on a soccer field.

ACTIVITIES: Complete four (4) of the following six (6) requirements.

Team Building:

Play two (2) games to get your group together:

1. Soccer Tunnel - Stand in a line, pass the ball with your hands between your legs to the person behind you. When the ball gets to the end of the line, pass the ball back to the front of the line the same way.
2. Name Game - Group makes a circle. Cal out the name of the girl you are going to kick (pass) the ball to. When she gets the ball, she calls out the name of the person she will pass the ball to next.
   
   OR
   
   Watch a soccer match to see how the team works together. There are many places where you may watch a soccer match. Games are played outdoors or indoors in recreational leagues, competitive leagues, by school teams, college teams, or professional teams. You may even watch games on television.

   Tip: How does each team member help each other? Eleven people make up a Soccer team. Soccer does not depend on just one person. There is no "I" in the word "TEAM" T.E.A.M. Together Everyone Achieves More.

Soccer is good exercise...It keeps your heart and lungs fit as well as your body:

Warm-up exercises help to prevent injuries. Begin with a gentle work-out of your muscles beforea practice or a game. Your muscles will stretch as they get warmer. If you begin the hardest exercise when you first begin, your muscles are cold and will not warm your muscles before you begin playing soccer.

Practice three (3) of these warm-up exercises:

1. Stretch your arms up over your held.
2. Bend your body at the waist, forward, to the right, back and to the left.
3. Bend your knees and hold for a few seconds.
4. Stand on one leg and stretch the other one out behind you and put your foot flat on the ground.
5. Hold for a few seconds, and then change legs and do the same thing with the other leg.
6. Sit on the ground: Bend your knees and put your feet together. Push your knees to the ground.
7. Sit on the ground: Keep your legs out straight, twist at the waist to the left and then the right.
8. Sit on the ground: Keep your legs out straight and touch your toes.

-Then-

Play Crab Soccer (a soccer skills game) for an all over body exercise and coordination building. Equipment: 1 soccer ball and 8 field marking cones. Mark corners with four (4) cones. Mark goals with two (2) cones at opposite ends. Divide into two (2) teams. (You may want to use bandanas, bibs, or other colorful items to identify team members.) Everyone sits down on the ground. Put your hands down, put your feet flat on the ground and lift up your body and move around on all fours and walk forward and backward in this position, like a crab. See Brownie Girl Scout Handbook, page 193. Now add the soccer ball by kicking it with your feet. Try to score goals.

Building your soccer skills:

Learn what these soccer terms mean and practice at least 3 or 4 of the 6 skills.

• Pass the ball - To kick the ball to a teammate, not past the teammate, or not close to the teammate, but TO the teammate
• Trap the ball - To use your legs, chest or head to stop the ball from going past you and to control the ball. Have a teammate toss the ball to you. Trap the balland control it as you move it with your feet.
• Dribble the ball - To move the ball by kicking it softly between your feet as you run. You may practice this by moving the ball around the field cones in a figure eight pattern. You use both fet to move the ball.
• Head the ball - To hit the ball with your head to control the ball. Have a teammate toss theball in the air to you. Keep your eyes open, concentrate, keep your mouth shut (so you don't bite your tongue), and hit the ball in the air with your head. This is different than letting the ball hit you in the head!
• Shoot the ball - To kick the ball toward the goal to score a goal. Run toward the ball, place your standing footnext to the ball, swing your other leg forward and kick the ball, and keep both of your arms stretched out horizontally to keep your balance.
• Throw-in the ball - To throw the ball in bounds after it has gone out of the field of play by releasing it over your head with both hands, while your feet stay on the ground out of bounds.

First Aid in soccer:

The most important thing to remember when playing soccer is to drink lots of water before, during half-time, and after a practice session or game. Remember to wear sunscreen. Girl Scouts should always have a first aid kit with them for emergencies.

Sometimes in playing soccer, someone is hurt. The most common injuries are cuts and scrapes-especially knees or elbows when you fall down,a bruise on the leg by getting kicked, or a sprained ankle. Your leader and coach will know how to take care of you if you are hurt.

Cuts and scrapes should be cleaned and bandaged by the adult first aider.

For kicked legs and shins, swollen areas or sprained ankles. R.I.C.E. is the answer. R.I.C.E. means Rest the injured area. Ice pack on the injury. Compress (wrap withelastic bandage) and Elevate the area. An ice pack may be made out of ice chips or ice cubes in a sandwich size recloseable plastic bag. Place the ice bag in an old sock. The sock provides a layer of insulation between the ice and skin so the skin does not get frostbite. Ice is applied 15 minutes on and 15 minutes off until the swelling is reduced. Always consult your family physician about any serious injury.

1. Pretend you have a scraped knee or you have been accidentally kicked during a game. What is the first thing that you do? Sit down on the field! Do not run off the field. Let the official see you are injured. the referee will stop the game and will call the coach to help you.
2. Pretend to take care of an injury on your friend. How do you take care of a cut on the knee? How do you take care of a sprained ankle?
3. Another way to prevent injuries os to check the soccer field before a game and pick up litter, rocks, glass, aluminum cans and orange peels that may be on or around a field. If it is possible to do this, be sure you do this witht he help of an adult. Make sure when you are finished with your practice or game that you leave the field "better than when you found it."

Food for fitness:

The food pyramid shows the proper balance of foods to build a healthy body.

1. Draw a large triangle on the ground that looks like the food pyramid to make a hopscotch game. Play hopscotch on the Food Pyramid. Use a recloseable storage bag of macaroni or beans to toss into the squares.

   Soccer players should eat from the bread and cereal and fruits portion of the food pyramid the night before a soccer game, for breakfast before a soccer game and after the game is played.

   Why? Soccer athletes need high energy foods which come from carbohydrates to give them the energy their body needs for the duration of the game. Candy and donuts give quick energy but not long lasting energy, and then you get tired and cannot last the entire game. Pop and salty foods make you perspire and then you loose water that you need to keep playing the game. You need to eat the right "fuel" to keep your "engine" running.
    

2. Make a list of your favorite foods from each food group that would make a nice snack or meal before a soccer match.

Participation in soccer game:

After practicing some of the soccer skills, participate in a soccer game. You may have a soccer coach or older girl who plays soccer visit your troop meeting to help you do this.