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Coached an under 11s side for a while a few years back. They had one amazing player and eight average ones for seven a side, so obviously I put the amazing kid at the heart of the team and basically rotated the others. Within a couple of weeks the talented lad had got far too big for his boots, everybody had fallen out, and the parents were angry that while everybody's kid had to take some time on he bench the talented lad never did. It was bit like Taarabt in Warnock's set up.
Lessons: - Treat them all equally regardless of ability - Make sure everybody gets equal time on the pitch, literally to the second because there will be some gobby parent checking. - Ignore gobby parents. - Make sure they're enjoying it first and foremost, everything else is secondary.
Tip: Give each player two jobs to do. One with and one without the ball. keep it really simple. So when we have the ball I want you to pass it in this direction, or run to the byline and cross it in, or run into the area and be ready for a cross. When we don't have the ball I want you to stand with this guy and tackle him, or run here and defend this area. I found that more than two things to remember and they forget and if you try and issue overall instructions to a team they didn't really understand how to translate that into their own personal performance.
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Any coaching advice? on 14:16 - Sep 21 with 2837 views
Gobby parents telling their 8 year old son to "GET BACK, TRACK BACK... TRACK BACK.... NATHAN GET BACK AND DEFEND!!!" are whats wrong with football in this country and why England will never ever be as good as Spain are.
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Any coaching advice? on 14:17 - Sep 21 with 2826 views
Any coaching advice? on 14:06 - Sep 21 by Northernr
Coached an under 11s side for a while a few years back. They had one amazing player and eight average ones for seven a side, so obviously I put the amazing kid at the heart of the team and basically rotated the others. Within a couple of weeks the talented lad had got far too big for his boots, everybody had fallen out, and the parents were angry that while everybody's kid had to take some time on he bench the talented lad never did. It was bit like Taarabt in Warnock's set up.
Lessons: - Treat them all equally regardless of ability - Make sure everybody gets equal time on the pitch, literally to the second because there will be some gobby parent checking. - Ignore gobby parents. - Make sure they're enjoying it first and foremost, everything else is secondary.
Tip: Give each player two jobs to do. One with and one without the ball. keep it really simple. So when we have the ball I want you to pass it in this direction, or run to the byline and cross it in, or run into the area and be ready for a cross. When we don't have the ball I want you to stand with this guy and tackle him, or run here and defend this area. I found that more than two things to remember and they forget and if you try and issue overall instructions to a team they didn't really understand how to translate that into their own personal performance.
Have you ever thought about giving MH a call? Some of our players may find this useful!
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Any coaching advice? on 14:35 - Sep 21 with 2805 views
Aside from the match, I have been wondering if there are any standard exercises to raise the skill of all the players?
When I was at school football was regarded like mathematics. It was simply something that you were good at or you weren't good at, so there was no point in trying to teach/train it.
Air hostess clique
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Any coaching advice? on 14:36 - Sep 21 with 2800 views
Any coaching advice? on 14:35 - Sep 21 by TacticalR
Aside from the match, I have been wondering if there are any standard exercises to raise the skill of all the players?
When I was at school football was regarded like mathematics. It was simply something that you were good at or you weren't good at, so there was no point in trying to teach/train it.
I found that throughout my time as a youth footballer and when my brother played as well. It's a product of youth teams and school teams being coached by whichever Dad had the time after work to do it.
Basically I was crap, until I was tall enough to go in goal and then I was average. I started off being played at right back and was basically told to just stand to the right of the defence, stay in line with the other players, and kick it out if I was under pressure. That was it. I actually never crossed the halfway line for the first three seasons with my club in London because I was told the defence should just stay in line. It wasn't until I moved up north and joined a new team that the manager asked me why I didn't overlap the winger when he had the ball, or put crosses into the box, why I stopped on the halfway line, and I just said that's what I'd been told to do. Unfortunately later in that same first training session I had a fight with a kid that took the mick out of my southern accent (lol) and never went back there.
My brother on the other hand was a superb footballer from a very young age. But again, I can't ever remember anybody coaching him to do anything. It was just Paul is a good footballer, we'll put Paul up front, Paul will score six or seven goals every game and we'll win. The first team he played for had a lad taking corners who could sort of get a bit of height on it, but as we were still in the days of 11 a side for 10 year olds it would always dip down to the near post (like QPRs do now) so I asked Paul why he didn't try starting at the back post, then just as it's about to be kicked running across the face of the goal to the near post. The defenders didn't follow him and he suddenly started heading goals in at the near post. First time he did it the manager of his team actually laughed and said "who's taught him to do that?"
Eventually he got picked up by Scunthorpe United and put in their youth set up but that was then selected exclusively on who was biggest and quickest and as he was neither he didn't make it.
But me telling Paul to run to the near post for corners, and one coach asking me once why I never went over the halfway line when I played right back, are the only two examples of actual coaching and trying to add something to the player's game that I can ever recall from our combined 16 years in junior football.
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Any coaching advice? on 14:54 - Sep 21 with 2766 views
Cheers guys. I've prepared an AVB-esque Powerpoint to show the kids the formation and tactics. I'm thinking Christmas tree when we've got the ball and diamond when we havent. I want full pressing from the front and I want man-markers on the oppo's strikers. Zonal defending on free-kicks and man-to-man on corners. High line in the 2nd half and switching wingers every 10mins.
Any coaching advice? on 14:54 - Sep 21 by real_loftus
Cheers guys. I've prepared an AVB-esque Powerpoint to show the kids the formation and tactics. I'm thinking Christmas tree when we've got the ball and diamond when we havent. I want full pressing from the front and I want man-markers on the oppo's strikers. Zonal defending on free-kicks and man-to-man on corners. High line in the 2nd half and switching wingers every 10mins.
Too much for 6yr olds?
good luck!
A magnificent football club, the love of our lives, finding a way to finally have its day in the sun.
These situations are always difficult, but don't put too much pressure on them or overload them with information.
I was similar to Paul, and was a decent player when I was a young lad and a lot of pressure was put on my shoulders to win matches. I liked it though, but, as good as I was, whenever they spoke about intricacies and tactical or technical details — I barely knew what they meant and was always too embarrassed to ask.
If you discuss anything like that, you need to demonstrate clearly what you mean, and quite often they can't really see the bigger picture and you can easily take that for granted when discussing how you want to play. Tell them it's normal at this stage if they do not necessarily understand or grasp what you are trying to convey and that feedback is important.
But the main starting point, as with any age or team, is trying to inspire your players with talks on a level that they understand and "get" and you don't need to be technical or tactical to do this.
If I were you, this is what I would do...
Usually at that age there will be nerves. I'd touch upon this; do you remember that feeling in your stomach? Perhaps your legs would feel like jelly and maybe it affects your first touch and you just feel physically weird?
And then I'd reassure them that this is absolutley normal, that as they get older, some will lose it, some won't, but you learn how to manage and control it in a way that suits you and helps your performance.
I'd tell them that it proves they have passion and fire in their belly and shows that they are proud and have honour and pride. It shows their desire to win. And remind them that when that first whistle blows, that weird feeling will disappear and evaporate in a flash.
Sometimes I ask players "what can you remember?" about certain passages of play on the pitch and ask them about their awareness levels to understand what goes through their minds and pick up on anything I can relate to.
For example, when I was a kid, sometimes my concentration levels and focus was so intense that I would literally block out everybody around me apart from the voice of my own coach. He was the only person I could hear or remember, but this sometimes gave me problems with my own team-mates, because I couldn't hear the guy 2-3 metres away from me telling me to "step" to play the offside trap.
And you will see that sometimes in kids, or any players, where you call and shout commands, call their name, tell them to look up, or that they've time on the ball, but they just completely ignore you because they're in their own world. If you can relate to them and show them how to unlock that, it will be the most benefit they can get versus teaching them anything technical or tactical.
Other things you can touch upon are fatigue. They will not know how to manage their own body and will often stop after they've done a short sprint, because they're out of breath and have a dry mouth, etc. These are all things that you struggle with when you're a kid and fight indirectly with yourself about — you're worried that it's just you, but usually it's all of them.
Reassure them again about this, it's normal, as they get stronger and more experienced, it becomes less and less and in some cases they'll learn to enjoy this feeling. Give them advice on how to manage the situation, how about keep walking backwards, and taking a breather in a more defensive area, rather than just standing about. Show them that congesting up at this point is likely to be more helpful because they can still engage the ball in a key area of the pitch, etc.
Performance wise, if you don't know anything about the opposition, just keep it nice and simple. Tell them to go out there and enjoy themselves, and tell them to ask the question of the other team. Turn up on the pitch with the attitude of saying "Hello, this is who we are, this is what we've got, what are you going to do about it? Are you good enough to handle us?"
If you want to actually coach this side over a longer period, it's difficult because they are just young kids and there needs to be a really good grap of technical fun based training and small sided games.
But, you can indirectly teach them tactical foundations. And that's how I would train youngsters. It's about the little snippets of information here and there that you give them, and then letting them express themselves.
Let's take a small pitch as an example; you are at a training session with them and they're playing a small sided game. But you introduce rules, you let them play, but set out the two teams in their formations.
Down the throw in lines, you set cones/markers for where the defensive, midfield and forward lines are in terms of the basic formation. You do this for both teams and whenever the ball goes out of play you ask the opposite side without the ball to "reset" into their default position.
They have to get back into their shape before they're allowed to engage and play and this indirectly promotes tracking back into position, and understanding when they lose the ball they have to work back, retain good shape, etc, before starting over. And there in one swoop, if you keep doing that over and over, you lay the first serious foundation indirectly into your players without having to get too tactical or instructions based.
[Post edited 1 Jan 1970 1:00]
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Any coaching advice? on 15:26 - Sep 21 with 2718 views
Any coaching advice? on 14:54 - Sep 21 by real_loftus
Cheers guys. I've prepared an AVB-esque Powerpoint to show the kids the formation and tactics. I'm thinking Christmas tree when we've got the ball and diamond when we havent. I want full pressing from the front and I want man-markers on the oppo's strikers. Zonal defending on free-kicks and man-to-man on corners. High line in the 2nd half and switching wingers every 10mins.
Too much for 6yr olds?
Yes — far too much.
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Any coaching advice? on 15:26 - Sep 21 with 2715 views
Any coaching advice? on 15:26 - Sep 21 by Northernr
Whoosh
You keep the set plays really simple, and if you are going straight into a game, this will not really work. It's something you need to do over a period of time with them, through coaching and getting to know them.
Everybody back for free-kicks and corners, except one individual. Make it his responsibility to stay higher up the pitch. Make it someone else's responsibility to call everybody back together and try to find one opponent each.
Use phases like "sandwich", something they can relate to and enjoy and something you can talk and visibly demonstrate. For defending throw ins, you can tell the guy to call out a sandwich and demonstrate that one player stands in front and one player stands behind the opposing player. Typically the full back and the winger, and usually with kids or people who are not good at football, the winger always forgets or doesn't realise that they are supposed to go and get into the sandwich position or are just too slow to react.
Realistically you're going to have a lot of problems with depth and defensive line, as the players will be too deep or too high up, and it will be a bit like "flies in a jam jar". That's the stuff you have to slowly teach them and solve, sort of with the little drill I gave earlier but with different types so that you slowly and indirectly teach them things without having to explain it, or to a point where you can explain it because they start to understand.
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Any coaching advice? on 15:36 - Sep 21 with 2694 views
Wow. Both NorthernR and Neil_SI have focussed on tactics (I haven't got a clue how much kids can take in this area).
What I had in mind was something pretty simple, that all the kids could practise & improve in:
Dribbling and ball control around cones (with balls the right size for the kids). One touch passing. Holding off another player by putting your body between the ball and the other player.
Just basic stuff.
Air hostess clique
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Any coaching advice? on 16:18 - Sep 21 with 2640 views
When I was around 12, we had two managers at the club that were completely at odds with each other. The main guy was from the local parish, didn't know anything about football, and used to give us the hairdryer treatment by saying things like, "They are absolutely WEEING on us lads. WEEING on us.". The other was a grizzled ex-con who had at least 3 different club crests tattooed on his arms who took a few of us to one side to teach us how to roll your foot over the ball in a 50-50 to ensure you'll break through a shin-pad and hopefully the bone. Lovely.
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Any coaching advice? on 16:19 - Sep 21 with 2638 views
Any coaching advice? on 16:12 - Sep 21 by TacticalR
Wow. Both NorthernR and Neil_SI have focussed on tactics (I haven't got a clue how much kids can take in this area).
What I had in mind was something pretty simple, that all the kids could practise & improve in:
Dribbling and ball control around cones (with balls the right size for the kids). One touch passing. Holding off another player by putting your body between the ball and the other player.
Just basic stuff.
TacticalR concerned at someone focussing on tactics?
ATAF.
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Any coaching advice? on 16:31 - Sep 21 with 2621 views
1) Take away the football, if you've got more than one, take all of them away. 2) Split the group into two, 3) Pick the two crazy Dudes and they are the Keepers.....Full stop! 4) Train one group to run backwards looking skywards- defenders 5) Train the other to run forwards looking skywards-forwards 6) Deflate the ball by 15% 7) Give it back to them and tell them to kick the ball at each other as hard as possible, mouthing obscenities...Game On!
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Any coaching advice? on 16:35 - Sep 21 with 2617 views
Any coaching advice? on 16:12 - Sep 21 by TacticalR
Wow. Both NorthernR and Neil_SI have focussed on tactics (I haven't got a clue how much kids can take in this area).
What I had in mind was something pretty simple, that all the kids could practise & improve in:
Dribbling and ball control around cones (with balls the right size for the kids). One touch passing. Holding off another player by putting your body between the ball and the other player.
Just basic stuff.
Haha Neil has, I haven't. It's about making sure they enjoy it, and teaching them basics like you say. In my experience you can't talk to them in a group for more than 35 seconds before they stop listening, and you can't give them more than two things to remember at a time. So set up a drill in 30 seconds, then pull one or two of them out during that to tell them individually what you'd like to see them do and try. Keep doing that for six months and they'll have some fundamentals.
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Any coaching advice? on 16:45 - Sep 21 with 2607 views
Any coaching advice? on 16:35 - Sep 21 by Northernr
Haha Neil has, I haven't. It's about making sure they enjoy it, and teaching them basics like you say. In my experience you can't talk to them in a group for more than 35 seconds before they stop listening, and you can't give them more than two things to remember at a time. So set up a drill in 30 seconds, then pull one or two of them out during that to tell them individually what you'd like to see them do and try. Keep doing that for six months and they'll have some fundamentals.
OK, but you mentioned that you were 'told' not to go beyond the halfway line. I am guessing you didn't go to the same school as Bosingwa?
Air hostess clique
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Any coaching advice? on 16:58 - Sep 21 with 2578 views
When I played for Southern England I had to play the second half as right back agains 'Old Corinthians' as we had two keepers but no left back. I was the biggest and probably fastest on the team and Captain said he didn't want me going forward..... *shakes head* Let the big kid do what he wants is my advice. (I was 15 though not 7)
I could have been the first Bale
Beer and Beef has made us what we are - The Prince Regent
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