Football: sessions bought by me

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

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?

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

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

Hi, My team plays in a mini soccer league which is 7v7. Whats the best formation to play in the environment. We have played 2-3-1 all season but i was looking at 3-1-2 this season using the left and right backs as wingers aswell. Any one got any thoughts? Cheers

I coach a school girls 1st football team. In terms of having training intensity as we head into championship round, is there any drills or advice you can give me for ideas? I tell them to train during a drill like it's a game but think they need some other form to replicate an intense environment.

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.

Hi guys, I've got one of my best players come to me with his father and ask if I could hold a 1hr30mins session for just him to improve his football overall. He's got good ability, so does anyone have session ideas I could implement aswell as techniques to use when coaching one on one, as I've not done it before?

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.

Hi I have the following membership, (Pro Football) Can you please tell me how I can print the sessions and drill please

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 ?

I play in the midfield for my football team, and it seems like whenever (training or a game) a high ball, from say a goal kick or clearance or chip, comes to me, I struggle to control it. It always bounces away. I have done endless passing, receiving, juggling, you name it drills, but what I really need are specific drills that help me control (feet, chest, etc) a ball that is coming to me with power and height. Any ideas?

I am coaching 11 7 to 8 year olds what is the best way to teach them about positioning

Im an assistant coach running a under 7 team. During play a few of the parents/family of the players keeping shouting out instructions Like tackle, clear it get back get up front etc. Even the manager I help and it seams to me some if the players get disstracted and confused to what they should do, it's come to the point a player seems to scared to do what he feels, just incase he does something wrong. How do I go about this? Asked using Sportplan Mobile App

Hello, my name is Wisdom and I'm goalkeeper for two teams. I was wondering if anyone knew any drills or tips that would help me gradually become better on diving on my weaker side. There will rare times where I do save shots on my weaker side but there are also times where I don't save those shots.I was also wondering if there any tips or drills that can help my goal kicks from the ground. I can get there right spot but I'm not generating enough power in it.Many thanksWisdom, Goalkeeper

Hi, I have taken on my first U11 football team and we are building a squad from scratch for all comers, we have picked up some good players with a few who have hardly ever kicked a ball. I have always promoted everyione is welcome but it seems some of the better players are now making comments that they wont stay if the lesser players continue! What do i do?

an amateur ladies team , we won only 2 matches then lost 5 games vs a strong teamsour fitness is bad then we make a fittness sessions but 5 players attend it out of 19 players, and the players need a lot of time with tecq skills , and the key players dont attend the training , and show up on the league match , after while i decide to " no training , no league " , furthermore i did alot of skills tec sessions, tactical, i can see some improvements , we lost before 14/0 but recently we losing 3/0 !any advice? should i bring a quality players?

hi im currently doing my FA level 2 badge. I have just been given my final topic on " pressing " has any one got any good technique, skill and ssg drills for this. many thanks j

Could anybody provide me with any drills to beat a high press from the opposition when we are taking a goal kick, during a under 11 9 aside game. The team is a developing side with very mixed abilities. Our goalies cannot kick the ball far which leads us to lose possession around the 18 yard box.Any ideas would be much appreciated?

I run a U11 team that is reasonably successful and plays with confidence and spends a lot of the time on the front foot. However we seem to get caught week after week by the simple long ball over the top and would welcome some tips/drills to help the lads improve this part (it's driving me mad!). Thanks in advance.