Topic: what order should I follow for skills progression in a school foos club?

[PhysicsTeacher]

Hi,

I brought my Tornado table to my classroom in Washington DC.  I work at a school where we have a LOT of after school clubs, and I am now in charge of the "Foosball Club."  I have almost a dozen students, mostly middle schoolers.  It's a little small for a club, but I am fine with that.  The good news is that most of these kids are seriously into this sport.  They are very into developing their skills.  We've met three times, and in just that time I can see skills improving across the board.  Leaps and bounds faster than my skills improve.  Has anyone ever run a club before with beginners?  What skills do I teach first?  Is there any sort of "logical progression" to them?  I could use some solid advice on how best to get them to develop. 

Thanks for your time and consideration. 

P.T.

[TSR_Brad]

https://www.foosballclubsusa.com/

[ShopTeacher]

PhysicsTeacher,

Im a Technology Teacher and run a club in NY. Foosballclubsusa is a good site and John O'Brien (founder) was a Tech Teacher in NY as well, he is recently retired but is a great resource for this exact topic.

I have high school kids so they are first introduced to it in 9th grade. For brand new players I work on defensive strategies such as: keeping 2 men in the box, covering 2 different holes, moving them together as a unit, not panicking and getting squirrely, trapping the ball in defense zone, hitting the ball hard, hitting the ball at an angle.

For offence I work on getting possession, setting up shots, basic pull kicks, pull shots, push shots. Anything on the 5 bar (passing) comes a little later - most kids are right handed and very awkward with 5 bar and tend to just attempt 5 bar shots.

I only start with a few basic rules - no spinning, ready protocol, three touch serve, dead ball, jarring. I work more rules in as kids get better, passing moving ball, distractions, time limits, etc

I use kickertool.com to set up tournaments and keep stats on wins/losses/points for/points against to rank the players. I set up elimination/ double elimination/ round robin DYP with A players and B players based on their current rankings. I have two tables and usually get between 20-30 kids at our Tuesday Foosday tournamnets.

Good luck

[alaskan thunder]

https://foos.academy/index.html

We have had a bunch of local success with this^^