I have several seasons of coaching experience. Until this season it had been exclusively with high school and traveling teams. Last year the company I work for closed the branch I was at and transferred me to a small town in Southwest Iowa with the option of transferring anywhere I want after one year. I decided to get involved with the YMCA soccer program which is only 2 years old. We have a lot of kids involved but the there are a wide range of abilities. There is a sizable Mexican population and most of these kids are pretty good players. Most of the white kids are new to the sport but several are pretty good athletes. I'm coaching junior high aged kids. What I need help with is getting the kids to spread out and pass to each other. They play the "beehive" soccer of small children but given the wide range in ability this makes sense. The Mexican kids don't trust a lot of their teammates who are new to the game. Does anyone have any suggestions for drills or short sided games that would help these kids develop passing skills and learn to spread out?
I am not a coach. But last night I saw the coaches have the kids play where they had a wingman who was in a small channel close to both sidelines and they had to keep passing to the wingman to get used to using the wide field. It helped take the action out of the center and opened up the passing having a team mate so far out of the action. Hope this helps. Its not much. Good luck.
I start novices with keepaway games. I start by explaining the parts of a soccer field, identify the danger areas (area near the goal from which a quality shot can be taken) at both ends and explain that the object is to take possession of the ball, play keep-away while advancing down the field into the danger area for a shot. On defense we want to keep the other team away from the danger area in front of our goal. This is a good point at which to mention team shape in possession and out. And to mention what your system of play is. Especially where your line of confrontation is going to be. I start teaching small group tactics with small sided games. No goals. Unbalanced enough so that the possessing side can be successful. Follow that with a small-sided game with goals so that they have a chance to put what they learned into a game context. (They now want possession with a purpose rather than just possession.) The follow up is just to keep it challenging as they improve by adjusting the size of the field and numbers until you are playing even sides. To spread out the play in the SSG you can introduce multiple goals, zones (for objectives instead of goals), and gates to pass or dribble through. You can also put a floor or ceiling on the number of touches to promote dribbling or passing. As mentioned above you can use neutrals too to give the possessing side more numbers. The nuetral could be inside the area of play or moving outside the area of play along a line. This would be a good role for the teams best passers in a novice SSG group. They get a lot of touches and don't unbalance play. You can run several SSGs at once and assign players to sides based on ability. Separating by skill lets the advanced play a more challenging exercise than the less experienced players. Adding a skilled player to a side of novices also has advantages. The novices see a good example of play to copy, there is a better chance of stringing passes, and the better player is forced to adjust his passes to include the lesser skilled players. An advantage of multiple SSGs is that you can break the team down into small sides and rotate the players through different sides which will help establish team relationships.
Here is a thread in the coaches forum about drills aimed at building from the back that you might find helpful. There are other threads there or you could post your question there. https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1862508
So the Mexican kids can play, but they don't know about opening up the field either? That is a sign they never played any organized soccer. They just played in small groups among them selves. That they have no patience to wait for the ball. So they move to the ball which can cause their team mates to lose the ball. I would also bet if they do that you will have a problem with offside later.. They probably don't know what offside is. They are going to call for a ball when they are standing in an offside position. But that's for later. The above was good advise. But I will tell you a little something that could help with that. Since you coached club before. You know what a takeover is right? Teach that to them. Encourage them to use it. So when a team mate moves towards then the dribbler has the option to lay the ball off to the passing player or not. Either way the player moving towards them will then be moving away from them. Instead of playing right next to the dribbler. That could help with the bunching up and also make them look like better players as well.
Google "Real Madrid small sided game". Brilliant little game that accomplishes what you're looking for, and a lot more.
You can always try video taping them and let them watch themselves while you describe how they should be positioned on the field.
I get dragged in to help local communities with their u5/u6 programs. Basically I turn the overall programs into circuits that keeps the kids focused for 15 minutes at a time, splits the players up (in up to 3-4 stations) and also makes it much easier for the stick and ball parent volunteers to coach because it cuts what they have to know/teach down to a minimum. When it comes to games I noticed that most of these rec clubs are running 4v4 and 5v5 and frankly IMO that just sets the framework for "beehive" play. I have found that running a 3v3 and focusing on the triangle while emphasizing ball control and passing both forward and back helps the players develop more quickly and also understand the game more. And IMO at this level - ball control and passing are key fundamentals to learn. Good luck!
Scrimmage or play keep away, but limit them to 2 or 3 touches. Forces them to pass rather than dribble.