The U10 practice breakdown

I'd rather have that than the coaches who insist U9s and U10s lack the mental skills to share the ball. If that were true, why play 7v7 at that age? And how would kids develop a first touch if they're never receiving the ball?

That said -- if they never ever worked on 1v1 and dribbling, that would strike me as a problem.

 

It is important at that age that the kid gets as many touches on the ball as possible. Some things that would cause concern for me as a parent are.

1.Lines (If you show up to a practice and see your kid in huge line, then you know that they aren't getting as many touches on the ball as they need to.

2, There needs to be a progression throughout practice that the coach makes obvious. i.e Start with quick feet, incoroporate dribbling into quick feet, progress from dribbling/passing to some sort of possession, then end with a game.

3. I would be concerned if the coach isn't emphasizing things like juggling, tons of touches, and some passing.

Like I said before, the most important part is that these kids are learning how to control the ball with all different types of touches.

Hope this helps!

www.instagram.com/jjsoccerdrills

 

IMO, if they're only working on passing for entire practices and multiple practices, I'd be concerned.

But when you say "passing", what drills are they doing? Even when kids are passing, they can be learning about running (and passing) into space, working with both feet, long vs short, crosses, shielding after receiving, etc.

 

The USSF coaching education series makes us all do practice plans that build up one specific idea through a series of exercises, from warmup to scrimmage. "Passing and receiving" would be a legitimate topic.

Not saying I'm a fan of that sort of curriculum. (In fact, I'm not.)

 

u8 we work on 3 basic concepts which are included in a about 4 drills that are rotated and consisent.

1. Open spaces
2. Settling the ball
3. Distribution

We can work in ball control on the foot in all of these concepts with no problem.

These will build up to a 1v1 and then a 2v3 or 3v3 challenges.

We are not looking at shooting or scoring goals at this age - more so posession. I recognize that this would not be the case at u10.

 

Lines are my biggest pet peeve -- especially when the kids in this line are waiting for their turn in a scripted, box-shaped passing drill, after which they go to the back of the line to wait their turn again, which might come in about 10 minutes.

If you see this, keep walking.

 

I am not a big fan of drills as such. Lines of players waiting to take their turn or endless dribbling around cones, juggling etc will - in my humble opinion - suck all the fun out of the game for my u17s let alone a group of u10s.

As practicemakesperfect says, the sign of a well planned session is that you can see how all the work ties in and progresses to a real game scenario.

I have not used lines etc for over 7 years now. Our sessions lean heavily towards small sided games and touches, juggling etc are for the warm up and warm down only eg we use some Coerver drills as warm up but the main session will be about use of the thirds of the pitch, passing, movement, possession, defending and finishing in a SSG based plan.

The aim is to keep the kids playing football, getting multiple touches etc while building up to a simulation of a specific in game scenario (not a full 7v7, 9v9 or 11v11 game)

In other words - and to answer the OP’s question - one our 2 hr sessions would be roughly

10 - 15 minutes jog and stretch

15 - 20 minutes ball skills (what I interpret juggling, dribbling, foot skills to be)

30 minutes ‘technique’ parts of the session (which can include 1v1 but is more likely to be 3v3 or 4v4 for us)

30 minutes ‘skill’ parts of the session (which is still SSG based, likely 4v4 and a progression of the ‘technique’ part)

40 minutes ‘game’ parts of the session (likely to be 4v4 SSGs, maybe 6v6 depending on what it is)

It may be that there are 3 sub sessions so

Session 1

10 mins technique, 10 mins ‘skill’, 15 minutes ‘game’

Then session 2 technique, skill, game

Then session 3 technique, skill, game

The younger the kids the more sub sessions in my opinion - especially as they will not have tactical aspects in the same way - so, to me, an u10 session should have clear warm up activity followed by what looks like up to 9 games before a warm down which is again clearly identifiable.

Any session where the coach concentrates a high % of session time on juggling, rolling the ball etc would be concerning to me at u10.

 

I am not a coach and unlikely that I will find myself coaching a team, but if I might pick your brain a bit:

1) Are you from and coach in the UK?
2) Have you coached elsewhere, or do you know enough to compare/contrast your coaching with what happens in the United State or elsewhere?
3) RE: Juggling & skill moves -- Is it your thought that they should already have those skills down by the U10 level, or is it that it's not beneficial to the team practices?
4) I am not sure how it might be in the UK (if that is where you are coaching) -- there seems to be this line of winning mattering too much and everyone "winning." The small-sided games will increase the competitiveness I assume. How do you keep the kids grounded or ones that struggle to continue playing hard?

 

Yes

Not coached anywhere else but have looked a fair bit into how other European countries do things. Part of the reason I come here, and places like this, is from a curiosity about how other countries do things.

Yes and No

Yes - depending on level it is reasonable to expect that some work will have been done to get kids comfortable on the ball and able to control it and move at speed with the ball at their feet. That said, Games of football are not won by skill moves or dribbling. They are won by effective passing and movement. Being able to master a double scissor does not make you a good player. Not being able to perform a double scissor does not make you a poor player. Control on receiving a pass and the ability to pass is more important to me.

No - players should always be looking to improve their comfort on the ball and there comes an age where it does not matter how well you can pass, you will not be effective if you cannot move at speed with the ball under control. For this reason touch and skill moves should be part of a session eg as part of the warm up or a small block.

Football is a team game and the team focussed elements are more important than the individual skills beyond those needed to perform the game plan effectively.

Knowing when to use dribbling skills is just as important as having them. To me, a player with basic dribbling, juggling but who uses them at the right time will be more effective than a player who always tries to - as our lads call it - ‘skill’ an opponent at the wrong time and place in a game.

I don’t believe so.

In the professional (EPL, championship etc) academies yes, but these are kids and young men at the very top of their age group and looking for a professi9nal career.

In wider grassroots, no. My own club is known for its football for all approach. We don’t hold trials, operate a cut or prioritise league position.

Playing competitively does not lead to it being all about the winning.

For me it is actually about the enjoyment. Done well, it does not feel like a coaching session and is easier for players to relate what they are being taught to a game scenario (even if that is only in a “oh yeah” kind of moment during the session wrap up)

SSG allows you to directly coach to a level without having people stood about. You can play all the strongest together, blend the abilities or pick individuals to place under more or less pressure while keeping it flowing and interesting for all.

They are not necessarily position/formation based so it is also a good way to expose defenders to midfield/attacking skills and vice versa.

For those that struggle it helps to break a full game into scenarios they can better understand and gives you an opportunity to boost confidence by concentrating on what they did will and highlighting their strengths in a scenario e.g being able to highlight that Joe chose to pass and move to beat a man - something that would not happen if it was a session looking at skill moves if Joe struggles with them.

 

Yes


Not coached anywhere else but have looked a fair bit into how other European countries do things. Part of the reason I come here, and places like this, is from a curiosity about how other countries do things.

Awesome! I like the cultural exchange as well. Beyond my kids playing, it was the international game that first got me interest after YEARS and years of disinterest in the sport. I chose to follow Liverpool and have really been enjoying the ride and understanding the game at a deeper level.

I like your approach and it makes sense! I do feel like the skill moves haven't been overdone, but I also don't know if my kids should already know how to do something. My oldest soccer player usually picks up the skill moves -- at least as far as practice, not sure I've ever seen it in a game -- quickly, but juggling is by far the one thing she struggles the most with.

Then again, I've seen kids that struggle to learn the skill moves, but put a ball on their feet during a game, and it's a whole different story.

That's what I hear we should be like stateside, but it seems that so many coaches/clubs focus on the winning so they are always on the look out for the biggest and fastest to achieve that end. I really like the no cut/trial thing.

I like your approach here as well. While I have seen some SSGs during the outside season and maybe more during the Futsal season (technically it's been 6v6 so it's actually LARGER than the Futsal game), I don't know if I've seen the coaches really break it down. It kind of looks more chaotic -- so the kids that aren't as aggressive sort of get left behind. I'd like to see a little more where it's less pressure, more passing, etc.

One more question --

How much do your teams practice a week? How long is each practice?

 

Another, it depends answer i’m afraid.

We have two, two hour sessions each week - Saturday morning and Wednesday night, but 1 hr if that it fitness on a Wednesday. All sessions are outdoor so, when the weather turns, they may shorten or drop off if conditions do not allow.

On top of this, a number of our players play futsal on a Friday night but it is not taken by me or my assistant and we encourage them to do it rather than it being obligatory.

A few play for their school so will have about 3 hrs training pw for that.

3 play for men’s teams as well so have training sessions for them too.

All in all, most will do 4 hours, some will do between 7 and 10 hrs, but we ask for 4

At 10 to 12 years old, most people need no more than about 2-3 hours in sessions shorter than ours - maybe an hour and a half.

Those in professional academies will get more but they are the top 1% selected on ability and the prospect of a professional career, selected by the professional clubs - not someone whose parents are super competitive and willing to pay more (no one pays for an elite academy place here)

 

Thanks! How much practice do you expect them to do on their own if anything? Is there anything you recommend when they aren't working with a team?

I don't know how ours compare. My U12 girl was on two teams. Her main team practice two times 1 1/2 hours per week; however, her other team had games on one of those practice times. Her Futsal is twice a week practice (1 to 1 1/2 hours) and typically one game per week. It's the same girls as her main team.

 

At 12 there will be players who you don't notice now who will be mainstays of a competitive team in the future. Some who you notice now will leave the game simply because they don't work at the team based skills and find their ball skills alone do not make them a superstar.

For me, there is no reason why someone who struggles with juggling would not be a good player.

I leave my players to run most of their pre game warm up now. This afternoon they chose to finish with a large circle playing headers and volleys. Some would juggle the ball before passing it on, other would just a straight header or volley. The juggling was sometimes followed by a poor offload to the next man, those who concentrated on the header or volley generally were more accurate.

they had practiced being accurate with their weight and direction, not how many times they juggled it. They could pick where they wanted it to go much better and, in a game, tended to dominate the arial game.

i.e. don't worry about it. She is at the age where she should be finding out what she can and cannot do. Accept what she cannot and work out how what she can will make her a better player in the future.

That does not mean give up trying to juggle, it means don't sweat it. football is a multi faceted game needing many types of players.

They will be your mainstays in a couple of years.

The FA have published a matrix to judge the strength of young players. receiving, moving and passing the ball at speed is one of the most important. Not sure it mentions Cruyff turns anywhere.

We have those coaches here too; there are just as unpopular here too and the FA is subtly trying to remove them from the game.

I know one from the top division in our league who refused to allow professional scouts to come to games as it would mean he would lose 'his' winning players and' god forbid, might finish second. It did not work, the scouts just sent invitations to open trials.

A number of them are no longer coaching in our age group. Their once successful teams have disbanded as my players have caught them physically. Some found they are less skilful than mine and others have joined us because they like us.

All of them still playing now find themselves playing us and - even those that beat us - have respect for my players as they realise they are better players than they once thought.

My assistant did not play in an academy or top division side as a kid as he was a late bloomer. He played Semi Pro though and will tell anyone who listens about the time he, as a semi pro, played against the superstar of his age group and realised he was not a good player any more. His career was longer than said superstar.

I will caveat that with:

Anyone can join, anyone can train.

Younger age groups everyone will get game time.

At u16/u17 we implemented competitive selection which meant that not all people who come training will be registered for the league so may only get gametime in a friendly if at all.

We tell all "work hard and prove yourself and I promise to give you a chance" - One "no league registration" player from last year is now a squad player for one of the teams and played 45 minutes today.

SSG, to me, can be anything up to 6v6 but should really be 3v3 or 4v4

Probably a reason to go to 3v3 or 4v4 SSG as - being blunt - that would be either:

1. A practice game (just with 6v6) - pointless as a teaching tool unless as a reward at the end of a session or the culmination of some 3v3/4v4 SSG session i.e. the game part of technique, skill, game

2. A poorly planned session which the coach has not adjusted when they see it not working. If you see players struggling and/or being left behind, the drill/game should be adjusted

This is the 'Technique' phase. This part of the plan can still be a SSG under little/no pressure.

Some of it may be what people think a SSG is.

To me, it is NOT a game of football with fewer players. It is a GAME which is football based, with sides competing against each other to perform a task or skill better, faster or whatever

 

I don't expect them to do anything as a rule. Most players here will be playing at school, in the park, street etc etc

I am here to help them love the game not overload or overtrain them.

However...

We will often say, especially when they are younger, "Next time you are in the garden/park/whatever, try this , work on your cuts" whatever it is - but there is no homework or requirement that they put in x amount of time

To me, the most valuable thing any kid can do outside of training is learn to love and understand the game. They should be watching the pros and trying to understand why they do what they do.

They should be watching what the player in their position (or positions) does and asking critically why they did something or did not do something.

I took a West Coast holiday this summer (SF, Pacific Coast Highway, LA, LV, Death Valley, Yosemite) and while in LA went over to Carson to catch a LA Galaxy game.

If that is representative, you are blessed in the US. The experience around the game is excellent (the football is okay). My son and I both came away as converts to the MLS experience.

If you are able, get your daughter to see any MLS game. Go to the game, soak in the experience, watch the players - not what the TV director wants you to see (off the ball work is 70% of the game to me). Talk about it, imagine herself there etc etc.

Love of the game is v important. Doing this will help her learn the game and learn to love the game better than any homework a coach may set.

Sounds about right to me. At 12 we were one, one hour session and a 1.5 hr session. We did not do futsal.

I would not see why she would benefit from doing more and watching a pro game live would add more in my opinion