Of the dozens of books aimed at youth soccer coaches—including our own Coaching Youth Soccer: A Baffled Parent’s Guide, which is the market leader—not one is written specifically for those who need help most. This will be the first book for newly annointed coaches of 4 to 6-year-old players, who require a very different coaching approach.

Parents, having discovered that soccer suits itself well to 4 and 5 year-olds, are increasingly enrolling their children in soccer programs as preschoolers, yet every book on coaching youth soccer is aimed at kids six years old and older. These older kids, with a year or two of school under their belts, are ready for the competition-themed drills and light-punishment-oriented discipline the books espouse, but the younger players are not. When coaching defense, if you kick the ball away from a 4- or 5-year-old player who is dribbling the ball, that player may very well collapse to the ground in tears. And the losing team in a ball-handling relay race may be inconsolable. These tots simply aren’t ready for the competitive aspects of game play that captivate older children and adults alike. Rather, they just want to have fun.