Football: t

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

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

We have a tall strong player in our under 12 team, he is well built but we are not sure what his best position is ie out and striker or centre back he tends to go on long runs and can withstand strong tackles but he does try to do too much and can tire, he doesn't always pass when he should and often will shoot wide where placing his shoot would be better any suggestions ?

What is the best warm up routine for U9 boys before a game? Thanks Coach Heath

I coach a U14 Boys team with a majority of them returning from the past couple seasons. My main loss from this past season was my keeper. I have a kid that has played keeper before, so I was told, but he is letting too many soft goals go by and costing us games. When I try to work with him, he just gives me a blank stare. I tell him to catch the ball but he continues to knock it down and then try to catch it which lets the other team score. I have told him to do some drills at home to help him but he tells me that he has not done them and does not want to. When I replace him, or try to, his mother throws a fit and gives me attitude. How do I handle this situation? I have been coaching for seasons and I have never had this happen before.

Our under 12's have made the jump from 9 a side to 11 a side. We have entered a big city league were results are hard to come by. We play a super 1st half and lose it massively 2nd half, through heads down & fitness. Any suggestions on confidence boosting & training drills to help steady a ship. We are playing a 4 - 2 -3 - 1 formation.Yes we are getting a bit of negativity from the parents to, which does not help. Thank you in advance.

I manage/coach a girls under 16 team and I have a striker that scored 25 goals last season and she has 6 in 5 games this season but her work rate is non existent. She doesnt chase defenders or the keeper down, if the ball doesn't go directly to her she's not particularly interested but she is a natural finisher. She was captain last season has started captain this season. When I tell her to chase the ball down sometimes she does for a short period another time she'll look at me as if to say I'm trying hard when she clearly isn't. What do you do with a player like this? I don't want to lose her as her goals are invaluable to us. It's a difficult situation

Why don't have that?I can't draw a drillDon't understand

I create my session plans on a desktop. For some reason, when I log into Sportplan on my tablet, it doesn't appear to update so my plans are not visible there so I cannot deliver the sessions "interactively" and have to rely on printing the session out and delivering it via paper form. Can you advise why it doesn't appear to be updating?

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

does any one have any recommendations/advice on how to deal with Under 9's/10's when they play up and become disruptive? I had a session this week where one or 2 individuals made it almost impossible to carry on with the session. Obviously i don't want to cancel a session so looking for ways people have dealt with similar issues.

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?

My under 16 team just cant seem to get going in the first half but come out strong in the second! I feel this is a bit of a sports psycology issue! I have heard a few of them say." Well, we know what the opposition are like after 40 mins! I need to install belief!

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, 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?

I have an sketch where the field doesn't show the full field and I don't understand why? I have another similar drill that does show the full field

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 coach a u11 girls team and there is a couple of girls who cross the ball fantasticinto the box but no one ever seems to get there head on then I've tried different approaches like short or low crosses but it frustrates me when the crosses are so good that there is no one on the end of them. Asked using Sportplan Mobile App

what do you do with players that dont want to listen?