U-10 Recreational Team Questions

[Kevin8833]

Hey, I am coaching a U-10 rec. team they are a wonderful group of kids with a decent level of skill, nothing spectacular but not at all bad, however they tend to horse around a real lot and can't focus for long periods of time so we have just been doing several different types of small sided games as scrimmages, they can keep their focus pretty well in scrimmages, which will give them touches on the ball and we try to give them pointers throughout, they seem to be really porgressing in my opinion is scrimmaging constantly a bad thing? One thing I wish we could do was some dribbling games and stuff but it just always turns into chaos and never works, small sided games and such seem to work well should I just stay with this or is there a way I can do some dribbling games I would like to improve their comfort with the ball and dribbling skills even further if I can. But all in all they are progressing greatly, the first week it was senseless running into eachother and falling over with booting the ball sporadically, they now hold the ball and are moving to space and passing, and just much more confident with the game overall and seem to enjoy it much more than in the beginning when we started.
Any comments or pointers?
Thanks.

P.S.- I cannot believe some of the coaches in recreational leagues, the yelling is ridiculous! No wonder why so many kids stop playing soccer at a young age, and I guess that's why my players seem to enjoy playing for me a lot, they seem to take to my laid back and fun approach nicely. At this age it isn't really about winning in my opinion I want to prepare these kids to be a step above everyone else when they are older and have fun while learning the game the right way, not just running by everyone with more athleticism which really works until about u-13's, after that its about the skills and knowledge of the game that wins out.

[gosh1976]

Have them dribble around a far away light post or the goal at the other end of the field you could make it a race but try and emphasize correct technique.

It usually works well to have kids that age dribble in a relatively small area. Again emphasize technique and show them a couple different ways to turn and remind them to move quickly into open space avoiding dribbling into corners and keeping their head up. Put a couple kids in the middle have have them challenge for a ball if they win one then the other kid has to challenge for another ball. You could start with the coach(es) being the kids trying to win the ball and go at it kinda easy so they can work on making turns and shielding.

Pair all the kids up give them one ball to a pair. Make 4 small goals with cones and dribbling through the cones is a goal. If the player defending wins the ball then he tries to dribble through a goal. Players can score on any goal.

here's a link you could look at
http://www.wings-sc.org/news/dribbling%20U8%20U9-USYS%20with%20graphics.pdf

there are tons of variations out there...

[Kevin8833]

Have them dribble around a far away light post or the goal at the other end of the field you could make it a race but try and emphasize correct technique.

It usually works well to have kids that age dribble in a relatively small area. Again emphasize technique and show them a couple different ways to turn and remind them to move quickly into open space avoiding dribbling into corners and keeping their head up. Put a couple kids in the middle have have them challenge for a ball if they win one then the other kid has to challenge for another ball. You could start with the coach(es) being the kids trying to win the ball and go at it kinda easy so they can work on making turns and shielding.

Pair all the kids up give them one ball to a pair. Make 4 small goals with cones and dribbling through the cones is a goal. If the player defending wins the ball then he tries to dribble through a goal. Players can score on any goal.

here's a link you could look at
http://www.wings-sc.org/news/dribbling%20U8%20U9-USYS%20with%20graphics.pdf

there are tons of variations out there...
Link doesn't work but thanks, that sounds like something that could work.

[Monkey Boy]

Sounds like the kids are progressing well. One great pointer that I followed with this age group is minimizing transition and down time. Organize your practices so that kids aren't waiting in line, you move quickly from one activity to another and kids are left to stand around. Keep them active and moving.

This will help big time to keeping their focus and keeping control, which are keys to each age group I've had from U12 down. If you loose control, things go straight downhill and it's difficult to get back on track.

As for specifics, I've found these sites helpful:
http://www.bettersoccermorefun.com/dwtext/tablecon.htm
http://www.barefootballer.com/
http://expertfootball.com/training/

Set up drills that give them maximum touches, but also force them to look up while dribbling. Good luck!

[Paul Nasta]

Try 1 v. 1 games. It forces them to dribble, shield, maybe even try a move to beat the defender. They're forced to remain focussed. If you have 10 kids, set up 4 games and keep two kids out as subs. They can juggle while they're out and then rotate into the games as others get tired. Move kids around so that the kids are always matched up with someone who's roughly their level.

[Kevin8833]

Alright cool thanks guys.