The new season is upon us.
The excitement, the energy, the (for some) sleepless nights are ramped up to 11!
It is also a time to visualise just how much our players will develop over the coming year.
One of the great thing about Foundation Age players is that, if the right tools are in place, then their growth is astronomical.
I think back to a former U8 Academy programme that I ran. The first set of games it was like herding cows. They were charging in one direction and all players were within 5 yards of the ball.
By the end of the spring, both the boys and girls groups could shield the ball effectively, use 1 v 1 moves with confidence, finish first time and recognise when and where to perform an overlapping run.
Similarly a girls team that I once coached, were able to rotate positions vertically (centre-back steps out of defence, the centre-mid drops in to cover that space) by the end of their U11 season.
By the end of their U12 autumn season, they could combine that with rotating laterally as well (striker moves wide into the channel, centre mid pushes forward, the winger slides inside).
The individual and collective growth we see in our players is a joy to behold. Use the following 5 ideas to maximise that growth.
Set Targets on Game Days
Kids are competitive individuals.
The first thing that most say when they come off the field is “we won 3-1” or “we lost 3-1”.
They won’t give an in-depth breakdown as to what they did well and what they can improve on.
Instead the emotion takes over…which of course is one the reasons we love this game!
Add to that the external pressures of adults, peers and even the talk on Super Sunday about the need to get points.
As a result, placing the focus of players on “performing” over “getting a result” is not an easy task.
In-game targets are a way to help re-frame success for your players…and you can set them up to suit your developmental needs.
For example, if you have players who appear fearful of making a tackle, set the team a target of making 10 tackles in a game.
It could be that your players have tendency to shoot from outside of the penalty area. The target could be to take 5 shots from inside the penalty box.
This is a tactic I have used many times over the past 20 years with great success. In recent times, I have taken it a step further and placed targets on individual players, so as to target their specific needs.
Keep a tally of how your players are performing against the targets and be sure to make sure all targets are SMART.
Repeat and Progress
For years, I was a reactive coach.
I would see that a team didn’t score in one game and would then spend the next session working only on that.
Next game, 5 goals scored, but also 5 conceded which clearly meant I had to work on defending play.
Next game, 1 conceded, but none scored.
This would continue to my bemusement, unable to grasp why nothing would stick. Having only spent an hour a time working on a topic, the answer should have been obvious.
Nowadays I follow a periodisation plan.
In my current role, our periodisation plan is split into a topic a month, with 4 sub-topics being focused on throughout the sessions.
This allows the players the repetition of consistent points to support their learning, while adding a new challenge to think about every week.
Repeating the same point over and over may seem frustrating, but it is vital to encourage accelerated development. Whenever I start with a new U8 group, my first session is the same – turning and ball protection.
Over the season we’ll cover 1 v 1’s, passing & receiving and 2-player combination play (repeating in the 2nd half of the season).
Despite the change in topics, the term “ball protection” will be mentioned every session thereafter, as it is linked to all.
By the end of the season, the hope is that the players will be fully comfortable in protecting the ball until a forward motion (pass, dribble, shot) becomes available.
Activities can remain similar, as even the slightest variation to an activity will keep players engaged and offer them a new challenge.
Involve the Parents in your Plans
Parents want to be a part of their child’s development in ALL walks of life.
You only have to see the excitement when a child takes their first step or says their first word.
Photo albums upon photo albums of children doing the most random things are commonplace.
It’s easy to empathise with parents wanting to feel that they had a role to play in their child’s growth into becoming an adult.
This includes when they play sport.
Couple this with the fact that parents are paying THEIR money for their children to play football. Ultimately, they are paying customers and will feel a right to have their say.
As with any customer, parents should be informed of everything before joining the team you coach.
I make a point of having a face to face meeting with the parents of every new team that I coach. This usually takes place after the first session.
It allows me to tell them who I am, my coaching experience, my goals for the team and my expectations of the players and parents. I also inform them of what they can expect from me, so that I can be held accountable.
Taking the communication one step further, I make sure to e-mail parents after every game or tournament.
This allows me to tell them what we did well, what we need to improve on and what the focus is on going forward. The meeting and e-mails achieve a number of things.
The meeting allows them to be fully aware of what to expect before making a commitment.
It keeps their support on game days in tune with what I am after from the players.
It also makes their feedback away from the pitch in tune with what I would say.
There will always be parents who will disagree or be awkward. I have found by taking these steps, it eliminates most from being that way.
Maximise Ball Rolling Time
We all want our players to be better conditioned.
We also know the best way to do this is with the ball.
Fast paced, high intensity sessions are the order of the day, but are your players as active for as much of the session as you think?
Working for a coaching company in New Jersey over a decade ago, I had to make sure that our players were active for 80% of a session.
This left me with 18 minutes of a 90-minute session to fit in water breaks, activity descriptions, group coaching points and end of session feedback. It also meant that the players were active for 72 minutes of the practice.
The difference it made to the players in games was outrageous.
My teams would often finish games battering the opposition goal. I lost count of the amount of times my U11 boys scored late winners or equalizers to the chagrin of the other team’s coach.
Taking this idea into my next coaching role, where I was leading staff education and assessments, I used a stop watch to time when coaches asked their players to stand still or take a break.
Most staff were shocked when they found out that their players were active for only 50 minutes of a 90-minute session.
One coach managed to stop the players and talk for over 50% of the entire practice! To be fair to him, he didn’t argue the point and worked to improve that aspect of his coaching.
As a test, have someone time your session the next time you run one and see how long players are active for. If you can, go one step further and video yourself.
Recognizing what interventions you can eliminate or adapt will go a long way to keeping the ball moving.
CPD
As coaches looking to improve what we offer our players, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is vital.
For those in the UK, the chance to have a 1-to-1 mentor during the UEFA C, B and A licenses during your sessions with your teams is a much appreciated change to the courses in recent years (providing you can get on them, I know).
In the US, coaches can go through courses with either the USSF or United Soccer Coaches, whose courses provide some great content and educators.
Additionally, there are many online options now that can help improve your learning. Our membership offers video guides and session ideas.
FC Barcelona have an online learning centre with University level courses in coaching, conditioning, psychology and much more.
Clubs are now even offering opportunities to watch them, as I was fortunate enough to spend a few days in Ajax’s academy.
There is much to be said for being able have conversations with other coaches to help mold you into becoming the coach that you want to be.
The coach that your players want you to be.