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Hi all, I've just started coaching a soccer team of 4 and 5 year olds and would like to discuss with my fellow coaches any drills which you have found to be safe, fun and valuable to the younger age group. I have my level 1 course under my belt and have difficulty in applying what I've learnt to the small kids. They get bored very quickly and are only interested in playing a match at the end of the session. They have no interest in passing the ball or shooting at goal whilst doing drills. Running with the ball is no problem as they are keeping active and all have a ball at their feet. As soon as they line up or have to share a ball, there are problems. I have a variety of drills which I run through with them, traffic lights, robin hood, alamo, sharks and fishes to name a few with variations of each but I crave more as everywhere I search caters for U6 upwards. I coach an U8 side midweek and have no problem with these lads as they are that bit older and have a greater level of concentration. (not by much mind). So I'm asking for advice from anyone who has coached 4 and 5 YOs and would like to know what has worked for you. PM replies welcome. Marc
Hi! If I were to coach step-over skills (Ronaldo style) to 4 and 5 years players, what warm ups should I start off with? Suppose those players have no or little balance/co-ordination? Step-over is an exciting skill to learn and would do wonder to a player's confidence.<br />Any advice?<br />Paul
Hi, ive just started coaching, im 17 and am helping a friend of my dad coach his under 10's he wants me to take a session on my own, im confident of my abilities to coach but is it nornal to feel a bit nervous before your first training session or am i just over reacting? haha
ive just taken over an under 16's side and the manager before was a 19 year old and let them get away with murder, ive tried throwing down ground rules, ive even shouted at them but it just doesnt work, the problem i am also 19 so they think because the last manager was a push over i will be the same, how do i control the team and stop the strops, attitude and negativity?
I usually plan my session the Friday night before Saturday training . I anticipated 12 players but then this sequence of events happened. Friday 8.36pm, parent texts amp; says child can't come as he is doing 11+ mocks (did he only just realise this?). Saturday 8.57am, another parent texts amp; says as they went to a wedding the night before, child is in no fit state to train (again, was this something that only just occured to them may happen?). Saturday 9.26am, parent phones amp; says child is throwing up (fair enough, I guess). Saturday 9.57am, parent texts, another puking child (a bug perhaps doing the rounds? Bit late notice though as we start training in 18 mins). Saturday 9.58am, another text from another child's parent to say child is throwing up (Hmmm, another one. Late notice again?). Saturday 10.15am, training starts but another child is missing. I give it 5 mins then phone. Parent says they are off to theme park amp; he sent me a text. I said that I never received text amp; asked if I sent an acknowledgement to aforementioned text to which he said no which I said meant his text wasn't receieved. I went from 12 players training @ 8.36pm Friday to 6 by start of training in under 10 hours. My session plan went in the bin. I realise the sickness is one of those things but think the last 2 were rather late in notifying me. As for the other 3, I feel these to be lame excuses. What can I implement to try to stop or reduce these issues? Fines? Suspensions? Nothing? #frustrated
Are there any drills I could use to help my U8 team learn to use the right weight of pass in the right situation. They have the ability to see the pass but often either under hit or over hit the ball. Thanks Lee
I took over a under 8s team 2 years ago unfortunately soccer is not my game and I did as there was no other option other than to fold. Im a good coach in terms of developing a good team (discipline, teamwork , sportsmanship fun etc) but I think my lack of knowledge about the game is holding the team back . I have a 12 players who are about to move up to the under 10s level , they skill level ranges from timid to very skilled, I try to give each player equal time and the lower skilled players are improving (just not at the same pace as the opposition). Unfortunately the opposition we face seem to be light years ahead in terms of playing a scheme and we are often found out during games (i have used a basic zone defense to try and stop the team becoming ball magnets). I think its a mixture of me insisting all players get equal playing time and the fact I dont know enough about the game to be able to coach an effective scheme and to react to opposition schemes. They are good kids and I want to give them a taste of success (you can only say it was bad luck so many times) but cant seem to get our club to take it to the next level. The drills on sportsplan are helpful but a lot of drills are too complicated for the kids age or can simply go wrong very quickly in reality. We dont get thrashed in games but we cant seem to eke out a draws or wins (I know its not all about winning but try explaining that to the kids when they lose on a regular basis)Any suggestions
How do I save a drill to a specific folder? Thank you Asked using Sportplan Mobile App
I've got a team of young women (12-13 year old) several of whom only played last season for the first time.Our first season last year was pretty good given they're young inexperienced and we rarely had subs. One area that always gets us is fast strikers getting in and behind our defense from quite a way up the fieldâ75% of our goals are conceded that way.So any thoughts on training the team to not allow so many of these goals? TIA!
Over the last 12 months i have been trying to make sure that no 2 sessions are the same. We train twice a week and sometimes it takes a while to understand a drill or objective so this led me to thinking would it be better to have a core amount of sessions and repeat over the season ?IF we train 50 sessions per year would it be better to have e.g 10 sessions that we rotate around so that when it comes round again the kids already have an understanding rather than create something new every time ?If i went this way and then further split this to 5 areas to focus on with 2 sessions for each focus i.e keeping possession would this be better than trying to create something new for every single session ? Obviously things would evolve so a session would maybe have something added but to have an amount of core session plans that rotate around over a period of time, is this the more effective way to develop ?
Hi could you please cancel my subscription as have now finished coaching after 40 years it's time for young ones to take over. Thank you for the help as your web site has help many children and adults over the years that I have been a member. As soon as possible as I am due to pay my next half yearly payment thanks againð¥°
how do i get better at shooting
Disciplining for misbehaviour? 8-11 year olds, they dont really get bored because i know that sometimes that can be the cause. How or what can i apply a bit of strictness into the team.
Team keep getting thrashed every week - where to start? Having been the sole coach/manager of a little league team for the past two years, this year I lost all my senior players. I was therefore presented with 10 brand new lads, some of whom have never played competitive football. We are 8 games in and my lads are getting thrashed every week. The main problems are that they cannot get the ball out of their half, positions are usually a mess, finishing and chance creation are non-existent, and they don't apply any pressure or are unable to tackle. The main problems are keeping the ball as a team, getting it in the opponents half and staying there, and creating/finishing chances. I only have 1 and a half hours a week with them. I don't really know what to do, and I'm a little desperate. Does anybody have any advice? Thanks for literally anything.
Hello all! My kids aged 9 and 7 are very slow when compared to their peers of the same age. They don't seem to fight for the ball and get and watch others play their game. They seem to lack the urgency (heart) needed for the game. (They LOVE football). How can make them move around and react faster. Any help you are able to provide is greatly appreciated. Thanks O
Hello, I am currently coaching an u9's boys team and a majority of them are well behaved and want to play football, but the odd 1or2 tend to mess around at training which distracts the others. I have sat them out in training and spoken to the parents but still this goes on. Do I decide to kick them out of the team altogether or does anyone know the miracle cure to stop this happening?
Hi I have quite a large squad (11) for my U9s team. Sometimes not all of them turn up but when they do managing the substitutions can be a nightmare. Have tried planning it out and making 3 subs on a rotation every 6 or 7 minutes. This works OK, just wondered how others do it? Thanks! Asked using Sportplan Mobile App
im unfit nd over wight and i have bin for some time but i still played football im caprin and got player of the year but i left my team but want to go back im trying to get fit and lose wight before i got back should i get fit before i got back or go back and not bother
How would you encourage your players to start talking to each other during game? This lack of communication at times is a hinderance to their overall play
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