Hey! This is my first year coaching. I have u14 kids, 19 to be exact. It feels like 6 are brand new to the sport, 7 are mediocre, and the way 6 know what they are doing. I’m finding it difficult to effectively practice because I’m holding everyone up to show the newbie 6 kids the basics. Some of the mediocre kids can benefit but the 6 kids who know for sure what they are doing, are bored and it seems they don’t respect me as a coach as much as. I also have 1 kid do doesn’t even want to be there and another one who is so shy he doesn’t want to do things because he’s embarrassed. It’s definitel ..read more

I'm in the midst of my sixth season as a Rec Coach and have really loved the experience. The girls are currently 10U and moving to 11U in the Fall (I'm in the US). ​ I really didn't know what I was doing at all for the first 3 seasons or so that I did this. My organization was there, but expectations were not appropriate for the age group. As time went on I started seeking counsel of more experienced coaches in the area, attended a coaching training, got my grassroots 7v7 license, and generally tried to uplift the kids and their skills. I am looking at doing the US Soccer 9v9 license in the s ..read more

Hi, I am the Junior Coaching Coordinator at my club in Australia. We have 24 Junior teams ranging in age from Under 6 to Under 16. We have lots of new coaches, many of whom are parents without experience. I am going to run a coaching information session next week. I have lots of experience as an educator and as someone who trains adults to be educators, but my coaching qualifications are four years coaching juniors - nothing formal. Last time I ran this, I took them through what I deal with in my job (general 'how kids learn' stuff), followed by an outline of different age levels and what the ..read more

First year head coach for middle school team! What should our focus be for the first playoff game?? Different preparation orrr what? We’re currently 9-0 . Our defense is my biggest concern but they step up when they have too. We use to run 4-3-3 but i quickly noticed in middle school everyone likes going right up the middle so i switched to 4-2-3-1 submitted by /u/Only_Flatworm_2722 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

I’ve been voluntarily running a youth football team for the last year and a half, currently under 8, moving to under 9 next season. I’ve had 11 players in the squad playing 5aside, This season I have conscientiously followed the guidelines for equal match time for all players, including rotating players equally for all matches (3 players sat out on each match day on a rota determined with the parents), every player missed the same number of matches and when players came to a game I gave as close to equal match time as possible, never playing less than 50% of the match and chances to play diff ..read more

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Hi folks, I’m a first time coach and long time player having played as a goalkeeper from elementary school through college. As we all know, the transition from player to coach doesn’t always correlate well. I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube - CoachRorySoccer for how to run a practice session and also yougotmojo or something like that for fun drills to keep the boys engaged. I feel like practices have generally gone well but when it comes to game time, everything unravels quickly. I feel like what we do in practice isn’t translating well to the game time and I’m starting to suspect that mayb ..read more

I thought this study was posted here, but maybe not. A study of Haaland's unique youth team, Bryne FC. https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/tsp/35/2/article-p131.xml some TLDR: “As many as possible, for as long as possible, and as good as possible.” was the motto. winning was not the emphasis. 6/40 of the kids turned pro. 35/40 of the kids (now adults) still play at some level 1-2 practices per week focused on skill development and enjoyment. ages 6-12. no tournament. most of the soccer involvement was peer-led activity where the kids would split up into even teams. teams from th ..read more

Some background first These are all 9 and 10-year-old girls. Our team was formed when the old team broke up. We have 4 girls that were on that team and 6 new girls for 10 total. Some of the teams in the league have been together since they were 5 and 6 year old. We have been having attendance issues at practice and the season has been disjointed because of the weather. There are 4 good players, 3 solid players, and 3 that are borderline unplayable. In our league, the teams in the spring get stronger because another league does not run a spring program. Because of that, we have got ..read more

I manage an Under 8s team of boys. We play 7 a side and have a squad of 11 players. We’re looking ahead to next season and want to compete more next year. We have a couple of boys in the squad who are significantly below the average of the team. Clear gap. Some basics still not mastered after a few years of coaching. For us to compete at a higher level next season we will have to drop the two boys from the squad, but I’m torn about whether this is the “right” thing to do (in the context of us wanting to push on next season and retain our better players). Can anyone advise if they’ve done some ..read more