The skills you must develop at U8
The skills you must develop at U10
The Lofted Pass
2 key things happen when players reach U11...the pitch gets bigger and 4 more players get added to the game. These 2 changes lend themselves to players receiving less time on the ball, as well as coming up with new solutions to create goal scoring opportunities. The lofted pass will give players a useful tool to exploit the extra space available to them.
In an ideal world, players will have a good understanding of striking the ball with their laces by U12. The lofted pass takes that technique one step further as players will be required to angle their foot in a different position to achieve success. It's like their foot is a number of golf clubs rolled into one. Depending on the strike needed, players can turn their angle to increase power, distance and loft.
From a tactical point of view, switching the point of attack starts to come to the fore a lot more at 9 v 9. More defenders close down the space around the ball and playing through them can be difficult. The lofted pass allows for a switch of play to happen and provides the back spin to slow the ball down on the impact with the floor, allowing the on-running player more chance of good control.
This small sided game works players ability to switch the play, both with short passes and a longer lofted pass
Defending as a Unit
At U10 we looked at building our players' ability to defend in 1 v 1 situations, due to their improved patience. At U12, we want to take this a step further and look at defending as a unit. Research suggests that most coaches at 9 v 9 play with 3 defenders. Some might play with 4, so as to prepare them for 11 v 11 and some may even play with 2. Regardless of what number you choose, we can still work on this skill.
Players at this age are approaching their teenage years. Their social need to be a part of a group is about to be, or may already have been turned up by 1000! Luckily for us coaches, we can use that to our advantage in teaching our defensive, midfield and attacking units to work together.
Working as a group requires communication, whether that be verbal or visual. If we have developed our players properly, then they should be able to use this communication to allow them success. Only yesterday, I was coaching my U11 Boys team and all 3 players that played centre back felt confident enough to speak to their fellow defenders, as well as signal where they wanted them to be.
Of course, development is not linear and some players may not feel comfortable commanding their team mates to stay organised. In this case we can put them alongside someone more adept to help settle them. We can also run a practice that allows only them to communicate to help them work that.
Defensive Shape Pattern Play is a great activity to get players moving and talking as a unit, while running through the movements of a defensive 3 in relation to the ball.
Breaking the Offside Trap
In most countries, 9 v 9 sees the introduction of the offside rule. In some this starts earlier, others it doesn't start until 11 v 11. Irrespective, breaking the offside trap is a skill that needs developing. If you have started it earlier, great! If not, now is the time to do so.
As mentioned earlier, the pitch is bigger. 18 metres longer, to be precise. This leaves extra space for players to run behind the opposition. It also means more space for the defence to step into. Players have to be more calculated with their movement off the ball. I'm sure we have all seen players that run forward in straight lines with the flag going up time and again. Likewise, we have seen those players that wait for the ball to go past them before they start running, leaving it to a flat footrace between them and the defender to see who gets to the ball first.
My personal preference to begin with is to ask my players that are on the shoulder of the last defender to move away from the ball and then run forward as the pass is about to happen. I refer to this as a double movement. This allows them to be on their toes and ready to accelerate towards the goal. It also means that the defender has a decision to make as to whether to look at the ball or the runner. Similarly, looking at midfield runners to come from deep is also a very effective skill to coach.
No game helps players learn to break the offside trap better than the Killer Pass Game. It incorporates diagonal and straight through balls, diagonal and straight runs, deep runs and how to support the attack once the offside line is broken.