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How to deal with a disruptive player at U7 level?

I have a player who i would describe as being "Alpha male" he is very disruptive at training and constantly having niggles with other players and challenging for the us the coaches.We have tonight stopped them having game time at end of training due to their behavior as a team and also reinforced the "Respect" values and that if they are not well behaved in training and preparation on match day they will not make the starting line up and in extreme cases will be asked to miss games.I have tried yellow/red card system and sending to side lines for a few minutes.Should we start to reward good behavior with some kind of sticker/merit and league table and prize for first one to reach target ?It has all come to a head at training tonight and looking for any ideas or if anyone has had or got similar situation.

Football CoachCoach

4 answers

ANSWERS

Sportplan TeamAdministrator, United Kingdom

Hi Richard,

We made this our question of the week on our Facebook page and were bowled over by the responses. Here are the best answers we received:

Hope these help and let us all know how you get on!

Football CoachCoach

Thanks for responses guys. After the enforced break due to bad weather etc, we got back together yesterday for indoor tournament and there was a marked improvement in behaviour. He also comes from single parent background, so not sure what goes on there either. But will see how things progress over the next few months.

Football CoachCoach

I would prefered having white t-shirt for anyone that go against the rules to put it on during training for the rest of the week training, as he would not like to wear it which would make him different from the rest. Other option is having him miss a match.

Football CoachCoach

please do not assume it has anything to do with single parent background, my son was "disruptive" and it was because he has aspergers. talk to the parent, find out if they are aware of any issues. Engage with the child, look to see if disrpuption occurs because your session plans are the same week in week out and children are getting bored and drifting. challenging children are exactly that-challenging. not always simply "naughty" for the sake of it. You will reap the rewards as will the child if you find a way to fully engage rather than totally switch off this child`s interest in football.

Experience:

manager of u7s team

single mum

child with aspergers

teacher