For Parents · Indoor 2026–27
What we're building this indoor season
We're developing players who:
- see what is happening around them;
- recognize when the game changes;
- help one another;
- recognize — and create — numerical advantages;
- solve problems more and more on their own.
Having more players than the other team in one part of the field — 2 attackers against 1 defender, or 3 attackers against 2 defenders. The team with the extra player (the “+1”) should be able to use it; the team without it has to slow things down until help arrives. By April we want the girls spotting, creating and defending these moments without waiting for a coach to tell them.
The indoor pathway · Oct 2026 – Apr 2027
Six blocks, and it's cumulative: earlier language doesn't disappear when a new block begins — each block adds a layer and keeps everything before it.
Block 0Oct 14 – 31Remember Our GameBIG / SMALL / HELPNext
Re-establish the shared summer language so everyone begins indoor season from the same foundation.
- Get BIG when we have the ball.
- Get SMALL when we don’t.
- HELP each other.
- Recognize that the game constantly changes between attacking and defending.
- Oct 14 – 18 Shared vocabulary reset: BIG / SMALL / HELP.
- Oct 19 – 25 Recognize support, pressure, windows and shape inside small-sided games.
- Oct 26 – 31 Put the language together with less coach prompting — can the girls recognize and call the ideas themselves?
Canada Soccer themesDenying space to regain possession · Exploiting space to maintain possession
Block 1Nov 1 – 30See the GameSCAN → PLAN → PLAYLater
Build the visual awareness everything later depends on — see the picture earlier, decide earlier.
- Scan before receiving.
- Recognize space.
- Recognize pressure.
- See teammates and opponents.
- Decide earlier.
- Better body shape, first touch and passing quality — as a result of seeing the picture earlier.
Canada Soccer themes1v1 with possession · Exploiting space to maintain possession
Block 2Dec 1 – Jan 15React to the ChangeWIN IT → BIG → GO · LOSE IT → SMALL → HELPLater
Recognize possession changes immediately and transition faster. Transitions often create a temporary extra player — for us or for them — so this comes before overloads.
- Recognize possession changes immediately.
- Transition faster — WIN IT → BIG → GO, LOSE IT → SMALL → HELP.
Canada Soccer themesDenying space to regain possession · Exploiting space to maintain possession
Block 3Jan 16 – Feb 28Create the AdvantageHELP / TRIANGLE / WINDOWLater
Teach how player movement and support deliberately change the numbers around the ball. The key shift: HELP can CREATE the +1.
- Support angles.
- Triangles.
- Passing windows.
- Width and depth.
- Pass and move.
- Third-player support.
- Moving defenders to create a free player.
Canada Soccer themesExploiting space to maintain possession · Creating scoring chances
Block 4Mar 1 – 31Create & Defend OverloadsFIND THE +1 / DELAY / SHIFT / HELPLater
Explicitly recognize and solve numbers-up and numbers-down situations — use the extra player, or buy time until help arrives.
Attack- Recognize 2v1.
- Recognize 3v2.
- Identify the free player.
- Create or use the extra player.
- Know when to pass, dribble or carry a defender.
Defend- Recognize when the opponent has the +1.
- Protect the greatest danger.
- Delay.
- Shift.
- Recover.
- Buy time for HELP to arrive.
Canada Soccer themes1v1 without possession · 1v1 with possession · Preventing scoring chances · Creating scoring chances
Block 5Apr 1 – 30See It. Solve It.SCAN → REACT → +1 → SOLVE ITLater
Recognize these situations as they emerge naturally in 7v7 and solve them with progressively less coach direction. The goal isn’t memorizing a pattern — it’s recognizing the problem and choosing a solution.
Where it shows up- Open play.
- Transitions.
- Build-out.
- Restarts.
- Team shape.
- Naturally occurring overloads.
Canada Soccer themesAll six, together
Where it all leads
- SEE IT
- REACT
- HELP
- CREATE THE +1
- SOLVE THE +1
How a week works
Discover it
Small spaces, small numbers and repetitions expose the week’s soccer problem.
Apply it
Transfer the same idea into larger, more realistic 7v7 situations.
Solve it
Less joystick coaching — we watch whether the girls recognize and solve situations on their own.
Reinforce it
Short activities and real moments from our own games, connected to what we’re working on now.
Ask, don't answer
The girls learn most when they work it out themselves. Afterward, a question does more than a tactical answer from the sideline.
Instead of “Pass!”
Ask afterward “What did you see?”
Instead of “You should have gone wide.”
Ask “What options did you have?”
Instead of “Why didn’t you get the ball?”
Ask “How could you have helped her?”
How this lines up with Canada Soccer
We plan the season against the session themes in Canada Soccer, Learn to Train — Pre-Designed Practice Session Plans. Each block above lists the themes it works on.
- A 1v1 without possession
- B 1v1 with possession
- C Denying space to regain possession
- D Exploiting space to maintain possession
- E Preventing scoring chances
- F Creating scoring chances
Where it lines up strongly
BIG/SMALL and the transition work line up with denying and exploiting space, and with regaining and maintaining possession. The 2v1, 3v2 and overload work fits Canada Soccer’s 1v1, possession and scoring-chance problems.
Our words, not theirs
SCAN, TAKE A PICTURE, TRIANGLE, WINDOW, BIG/SMALL, FIND THE +1 and SOLVE IT are our team’s own cue words — short, repeatable names for the same decision-making problems. They are not official Canada Soccer terminology.
How sessions are built
Small-sided games, realistic game problems, constraints and guided questions are consistent with Canada Soccer’s Learn to Train material — which is why a week goes Discover it → Apply it → Solve it.
A planning reference
We use the Canada Soccer themes to check our planning, not as a claim of endorsement. Holidays or game schedules may shift the emphasis.
Is GameSmarts homework?
No. There is nothing to complete and nothing to hand in. It is there if she wants it.
Does every game get analyzed?
No. Coaches pull clips when there is something worth seeing — some weeks that is nothing.
Where are player stats?
We do not publish individual statistics or rankings for players this age.
Who decides the curriculum?
Amy and Corrie. This website follows their plan; it does not set it.