The Skills you MUST Develop at U8

"The best decisions aren't made with your mind, but with your instinct.  The more familiar with a situation you become, the quicker, the better your decision will be" - Lionel Messi

Skill development takes a long time before it comes 'instinct'.  As coaches, one of our roles is to ensure that players are learning the necessary skills to help their game progress and allow them to perform at an unconscious competence level.  Physical, psychological and social development impacts what we should work on at specific ages.  For example, expecting a U9 to play a 50 yard cross-field lofted pass is unrealistic due to all of those factors.  Expecting a 10 yard pass with the inside of the foot is reasonable.

The following skills are absolute musts at U8.  All can be performed.  They will have opportunities to use these in every game that they play.  They will also be relevant when they reach U12, U16, adult and even pro.

Dribbling, Shielding and Turning

Dribbling, shielding and turning are not mutually exclusive.  With how U8 games develop, all 3 are likely to be used in the same phase of play and they all require mastery of the ball with all parts of both feet.  What makes these 3 skills so vital is that it means from the very beginning, we are teaching our players to keep the ball if no other option is available.  With many coaches favouring a possession-based style nowadays, being able to keep possession as an individual makes retaining the ball as a team far easier.

I ran a session with the U11 development centre last nght as it was shocking to see how many of them have not been taught how to turn properly when shoulder to shoulder with an opponent.  Players were turning into their marker consistently, showing them the ball and giving the opponent an easy chance to win the ball.  The 1 or 2 who had success kept their body inbetween the defender and the ball everytime they turned.  This gave them time to lift their head, see the movement of others and remain calm while they made their decision.

The great thing about dribbling, shielding and turning is that all U8's are capable of performing and improving these skills.  Physical traits are not important.  Social traits lend themselves to the individual nature of keeping the ball.  The likelihood of success when protecting the ball from an opponent can help improve a players confidence to have the ball in games.

Key Coaching Points

• Keep your body between the ball and the defender - Ball, Body, Bozo
• Turn with your back to the opponent
• Look forward and side to side when dribbling

Finishing

I really dislike the term shooting when coaching players from U8-12.  The word 'shoot' suggests hitting the ball as hard as you can at goal and hope it goes in.  While it may have some success early on due to the GK being unable to get anywhere near the ball, as players get older this becomes a poor tactic to use.  I remember one player I coached who would get a least 10 clear chances a game due to their speed and strength.  Those 10 chances usually resulted in 1-2 goals, due to the hit and hope approach to scoring goals.

The other challenge that coaches face when teaching "shooting" is that players are often insructed to use one particular part of the foot to shoot with.  This isn't realistic and different scenarios require different parts of the foot.  As well as that, every player feels comfortable using different parts of the foot to strike the ball with.  A friend of mine recently has a son who has a defect in his right foot.  Asking him to only shoot with his laces is not a possibility.

Finishing on the other hand, requires an element of skill.  It is something we can teach players as young as U8 with 3 basic words - Look, decide, aim.  If players use rememver these 3 words, in that order, everytime they have a goal scoring opportunity, the part of the foot they strike the ball with becomes less important.  It also becomes their choice where the ball is going to go, rather than hoping for the best.  My U8 team spent a few weeks on finishing earlier this season and can now reel off those 3 words instinctively.  All of them know to look at the goal before finishing.

Key Coaching Points

• LOOK - at the goal and the goalkeeper
• DECIDE - where you want the ball to goal
• AIM - with the placement of your plant foot and away from the GK

The 1-2/Give & Go

Up until U8, most players take part in activities that require a ball each.  Yet something changes in the mindset of a lot of coaches that when they want to coach players how, why and when to pass the ball, they feel the need to have 1 ball between 4/5 players.  This is far too big of an increase.  It also doesn't fit with the social development of most 7/8 year olds, who are still beginning to build their trust in friends.  Most players this age will have 1 best friend (ask them to pair up and see what happens) and this transfers onto the soccer field also.

Coaching the 1-2 allows players to understand the importance of working together to get past the opponent.  It feeds into the social development of U8's, in that they're ultimately passing to their best friend.  They also get to feed their intrinsic nature, knowing that if they pass, they will get the ball back.  A lot of younger players are fearful of this, hence why the putting them in a session with 1 ball between 5 of them isn't a great idea.

The 1-2 is also a skill that highlights a number of tactical considerations, such as movement, communication and width.

Key Coaching Points

• Play off the back foot
• Run forward as soon as the first pass is made
• The receiving player to act as a wall - the ball should bounce off