Good to hear your input mate, especially from being a position of taking U9s through U16s and seeing how things went and what you could have changed.
We are doing lots of different training drills, usually start with 15 minutes or so of rondo or running with the ball in big group, technical skill, touch, fast passing, movement etc then 15mins of plays like 2v1 and shoot against keeper etc drills and last half hour a little match.
The last few sessions I’ve split the group into 3 aside teams with smaller pitches and no gk though instead of one big 6 or 7 aside. They seem to love this, it’s more time and touches of the ball for them and a more confined space to get used to playing a pass under pressure.
Any tips to go with this would be greatly appreciated.
What do you mean by playing style? We play to a formation and I try to get them to understand support a player, play from defence down the line to a forward etc. Or do you mean even more advanced than that.
Great seeing the input from people in this thread! It’s encouraging.
Its a Nice thread indeed, and good to see other people also interested in this.
With playing style i mean formation, position and also to lock them down in what they can do. Or even more what they CANT do. Im not sure this is the right way at all, but in discussion with coaches who works with the best Young players in my country this always comes up.
Ill try to give some examples.
If you train in a club that got a senior team where the players can play profootball then you probably should train them in the same system as your senior teams play. Your club maybe even give you instructions to do this.
If you train in a club where the natural way for your best players to go is to change clubs when they are good enough i would not lock them in a system or a position before they turn 12,13,14 depending on the individual maturity level.
If you do this you can create a good team, but its much harder for you to see if you create good footballers, if you understand what i mean?
Our job as youth coaches is not to win matches when they are 7-13(even if it is our job to learn them the importance of winning), but to help form and push players to want to reach their potential.
When it comes to lock players in a position to early i am strongly against that. One of the best ways to learn how to play as a forward, is to play as a defender. Versitality is the name of the game. Let them self discover their flaws and strenghts.
I would not let a player play several positions during a singel match as its much harder for them to focus on their individual pointers if they moved around to much, but during a season i would have them play at least 5 games in 2-3 different positions.
In playing i tell them to play in the way i want of course. Like you say, build from defence for example.
What i never do is tell them what i dont want them to do. For example i have a defender who is great at defending, but always just hoofs the ball up when he wins it. I dont tell him to stop doing that, but rather work with him on the pros of keeping the ball in the team. Then play him as a midfielder so he is forced to play more short passes F.ex.
Sorry for bad English in the post, but would love to keep this thread alive and keep on discussing.
From 1.january 2020 i am finaly able to live from football so this will be my life from then.