Some of our youngest members are introduced to football through ‘First Kicks’ – part of New Zealand Football’s Junior Framework. The players learn new skills in a fun and friendly environment, taking part in weekly sessions that provide wide-ranging benefits:
- Social & Emotional – lots of interaction, enjoyment
- Technical & Tactical – lots of touches, 1v1s, attacking & defending
- Physical – develop Functional Movement Patterns, more active
- Mental – lots of opportunities for success and for decision making
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First Kicks - 7th grade Mixed (boys and girls) & 6/7th grade Girls
- Game Day - Saturdays 9am: Station Rotation and 3v3 games using size 3 balls.
- Mixed/Girls teams - Boys will play in mixed teams (may include boys and girls). Girls can play in Mixed or Girls teams. The 6th and 7th grade girls teams will play together at 9am each week
- Players per team - maximum of 7 players. We are placing up to 7 players per team so that games will usually be the preferred 3v3 or 4v3.
- Training - This is optional for teams but most usually choose to train 1x per week. We will place teams alongside other teams of similar age on their preferred training day so teams/coaches can train together.
- First Game Day: 2 May 2026
- Final Game Day: 5 September 2026
- No Games on the following holiday 2026 dates: 30 May, 11 July
- 7th Grade Coordinators: Scott Hunter - coordinator2019@wsafc.org.nz
- Grading is strictly based on the year of birth: 2019 – 7th Grade
- Optional extra weekly programmes - running each term
- Skill Centre (Boys and Girls) - https://wsafc.org.nz/skill-centreandnbspprogrammes
- Fantails (Girls only) - https://wsafc.org.nz/milo-fantails-hub
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First Kicks Game Day - Saturdays 9am
The weekly allocation of pitches and station activities will be made available on our website and App usually at least two days in advance. Four teams will be allocated to each 1/4 pitch (POD) and one team will be in charge of the POD (see below details on being a POD Coordinator)
Each team will need two ‘coaches’ on the pitch with their team – one to run the activity card and one to take the team around the POD to complete all four activities. Teams will move around the POD in a clockwise direction. The hooter is sounded to signal the start/end of each activity/game.
TEAMS
Maximum of 7 players per team
PITCH
25m x 17m (1/16th of a pitch) with 2m x 1m goals
FORMAT
8:45 POD Coordinators collect activity cards from the clubrooms
9:00 Activity 1 - Fit4Football 11+ kids (learn more about Fit4Football here)
9:08 Activity 2 - Football Technique
9:16 Activity 3 - Football Coordination
9:24 Activity 4 - Small Sided Game
9:32 Return to original Station for a drink – 2 minutes
Coaches ensure half the team has bibs on. The players wearing bibs will move clockwise to play two 8 minute games. One coach will move with the bibbed players and the other will remain with the non-bib players.
9:34 Bibbed players rotate clockwise – Game 1 kick-off
9:42 Bibbed players rotate clockwise – Game 2 Kick-off
9:50 Pod coordinators return all cards to clubrooms
RULES
- Players are encouraged to enjoy being in possession of the ball; the focus is on having fun and participation
- There are no throw-ins, goal kicks, corners, free kicks, or kickoffs
- If the ball goes out of play or a goal is scored, coaches are encouraged to throw a ball back onto the pitch
- Coaches should try to ensure games are relatively evenly matched. If one team has more players than the opposition then the coaches can monitor the game and balance the teams as fairly as possible by sharing players
- Team coaches will be on the field to encourage players and their positive behaviours. Coaches should encourage all players to perform different skills and roles within the team
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Registrations and Teams
Registrations typically open early January through to early March. At the close of registrations, the grade coordinator will put the teams together based on requests as indicated on the registration form (they do their best, nothing is guaranteed). If you have a few friends wanting to play together, they will all have to indicate this on their registration. Click here to register.
Once all registrations are sorted into teams, the coordinator will email out team details (typically mid March). Each team will require a volunteer coach, assistant coach, and manager. It is at the team's discretion if they want to practice during the week or not. Teams will be given the option to secure turf space for training if they require it.
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Parents and Supporters
All supporters should watch games from behind the fence or on the balcony and provide encouragement to all players.
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Duties of a POD Cooordinator
- Collect your high vis vest and POD’s activity cards from the clubrooms by 7:40am
- Put on your high vis vest, find your field and hand out the activity cards to the coaches in your POD
- Ensure all four teams in your POD have their gear and are set up ready to kick off at 8:00am
- Check coaches have put bibs on half of their players. If a team is short on players, ask for volunteers from the other teams to make up numbers for the games after the activities.
- Stay with your POD and help throw back balls that have gone out of play
- Help the teams rotate in a clockwise direction when the hooter sounds – encourage a fast change when moving from one activity to the next and when moving into the small-sided games
- Ensure NO parents/spectators are in the middle area of the grids / on the field. There should be no more than 2 adults on the grid at any one time (coaches only)
- Make sure you and the children are having fun!
- Collect all the activity cards back from the teams and return them and your vest to the coordinator in the clubrooms.
