SSS Football Programme

At Surrey Soccer Schools our focus is on the individual child. All our decisions are based around the growth, development and experience of each child. We constantly evaluate and adapt the playing format to support the social, emotional and physical phase of development of each individual child.

Children and young people need time to grow and mature. We therefore take into account individual stages of development when planning and delivering our programme.

Our programme adapts to the grassroots methodology of The Four Corner approach certified by FIFA and the FA. The Four Corner Model reflects a wide aspect of a player’s development that will benefit your child not only in football but life in general. 

The approach places the player at the centre of the development process with soccer experiences that meet the four key needs of the player. The gradual progressive development of players is fundamental to the enjoyment, technical competency and retention in the game. 

During each session, our players will spend an allotted time at stations having fun, developing skills and qualities before moving onto the next station, followed by small sided games. By using station work we are putting skills into action and can differentiate through observational assessments. Our small sided games create an environment where players are continually motivated, challenged and are able to apply themselves to the game that tests them as a player.

Meeting individual child needs

All sessions take a holistic approach to developing our players at Surrey Soccers Schools. Each game and activity will focus on four main areas of the child’s development; Physical, technical, psychological and social and emotional.

We believe in the FUN element of the game. That every child deserves to play football. The Four corner approach places the child at the centre of the development process and reflects a wider aspect to the player. The interaction and overlapping of all of these constituent parts is what truly transforms athletes into successful performers, and successful people.

We recognise that children do not grow and develop at the same rate and that each child is on their own developmental pathway.  They are continually learning about their body and what they can and can’t do. During the course of each season we break down the programme to motivate and challenge the children. 

Children are naturally competitive!

Surrey Soccer Schools believes in healthy competition. By nature children naturally want to win and we want to harness this drive into good sportsmanship and fair play. Pete Ackerley, The FAs Head of participation stated  “Our ambition is for football to be progressive and child-friendly and to move away from the win-at-all-costs mentality that has been recognised to stifle development and enjoyment in sport”.

We will enter our children into tournaments and will be hosting Surrey Soccer Schools Tournaments throughout the year to build on our belief about developing healthy competition so that they have the foundations and growth mindset to take this into adult life. 

The 4 corner model outlines the factors that need to be considered as a young player grows and develops in the game. Each of the corners is connected and relies on support from the other three areas. 

Each week we focus on the four main areas of development: 

TECHNICAL

Technical competence places the player at the centre. The gradual progressive nature of each player is fundamental to the enjoyment of technical competence and retention in the game. By acquiring skills early on the players are getting a lot out of the sport by learning to play the sport properly, whilst being motivated by their achievement in doing so, thus appreciating the game more.

The technical corner focuses on skills that are appropriate to the individual stage of development. During our stations, practice and match play the players are engaged in varying activities and optional positional roles to build their skills. 

SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL

Developing their cognitive regulation supports and develops their flexible thinking skills so that they can plan, solve and make decisions. We support children to regulate their emotions through modelling behaviour, language, giving positive feedback and reinforcement so that every child feels they have accomplished.

Our focus is to learn and develop lIfe skills that can be put into different sports and life in general. We do this through our four model approach in breaking down into smaller sessions to help the child to build confidence and to accept failure both on and off the pitch. 

We give each child the time to develop the fundamentals at their level that is right for their cognitive phase of development and build on those strengths to take them to the next stage. 

PHYSICAL 

The pace at which children achieve their developmental milestones is unique to each child. Our role is to facilitate, support and refine their fine and gross motor skills to help develop the physical skills for their adult lives.

Through our training programme we focus on your child's physical growth linked to their chronological and biological age. Our model develops their agility, balance and coordination (ABCs). We achieve this through the frequency of our training, the duration of activities, and our commitment to assess and refine our carefully planned sessions based on the developmental needs of our children.

PSYCHOLOGICAL 

A school-age child’s brain is still developing as they learn how to do new things and to think differently. They are developing their cognitive skills to support their ability to learn and solve problems. We encourage a no fear of failure policy on or off the pitch. That they have the confidence to take risks and develop as a player. 

We are an inclusive programme and promote mixed ages warm up and skills sessions. The junior members take on the role of captain and mentor. Giving them a sense of responsibility. 

We then break out for developmental phase skills and mini matches where they can put into practice their skills as a player. It gives the players the opportunity to make basic decisions in the process of application of skill.