[ronaldinho]

Having problems getting my 2003's team to acctually pass the ball, then make an angle for the pass back, now their not the best but their not the worst they just think they've got all day to stop the ball dead turn round and pick a pass. Now they've started playing 7's their getting over run and are struggling to get the ball forward. Anybody got any good drills or advice that might help?

[BTID]

Spacial awareness is quite an advanced process for younger kids.

One I've found which is really good, is have a 5x5 box with 3 players on 3 sides of the square. One player in middle tries to intercept pass, the two players without the ball should be left and right of the player on the ball
at all times. So it encourages movement and is good for quick passing.

You could also limit the no of touches in
a game at the end, forcing an early pass which players have to switch on quicker to help out.

Hope this helps.

[Cyderlichtie]

ronaldinho, on 22 August 2011 - 20:16, said:

Having problems getting my 2003's team to acctually pass the ball, then make an angle for the pass back, now their not the best but their not the worst they just think they've got all day to stop the ball dead turn round and pick a pass. Now they've started playing 7's their getting over run and are struggling to get the ball forward. Anybody got any good drills or advice that might help?

To get them moving to receive swedish handball is a good excercise (google it and you'll find it on the footy4kids website). Its a game designed to get them moving around (bit like net ball). You start with that then move on to doing basically the same excercise with the ball at feet

As they are quite young you might want to use a 'grabball' or something similar as thats easier for them to catch and you want them to be concentrating on the movement rather than the catching!

Apologies for brevity of answer - going out. There are some other excercises which I'll post later.

[green and white]

what sort of movement? as in making runs or moving in the middle of the park to make space? I really wouldn't bother on movement while your still playing 7s and probably not until about 14/15s when they're solid at 11s. I would just focus on technique for now and try to develop them as much as possible.

[Dennis Bergkamp]

Simply adding in a condition that you can only take 2/3 touches of the ball during a training game will improve passing. For players that age, passing squares can be quite boring so i'd tend to use possession games to improve passing or do a passing drill whilst involving a shot at the end of it. Doing a possession game allows you to enforce the important themes associated with keeping the ball; limiting touches, showing awareness, touch into space, technique of pass, tempo of pass, creating angles, double movements etc.

I'm big on using psychology in order to get the best out of players. Nothing like using imagery or anything like that, but using certain techniques help. Keep on telling them the importance of passing and make reference to great passing sides like Barcelona will change their mentality. Psychologically, positive reinforcement is vital in order to allow that player to maximise their short term potential. Players that age like their coach (they let them play football as opposed to other adults in their life which give discipline a lot like parents, or make them do Maths) and will seek positive exchanges with their coach. When a player passes the ball well always make a point of openly praising them. This has two effects; that player continues to seek a positive response from their coach so continue to do the thing they were prasied for and also the other players will attempt to copy the praised work in order to recieve praise themselves. This kind of psychology is why I tear my hair out when coaches praise defenders for booting the ball out of play, for example. That player will now continue to boot the ball out of play in order to recieve praise instead of choosing better options.

Kids that age (well, any age really) enjoy working out the answers to questions put to them.When I was coaching an Under 9s team a couple of years ago we would regularly have a conversation like this;

"When we're playing football, do we get tired?"
"Yeah after a bit"
"Do our opponents get tired?"
"Yes"
"Does the ball get tired?"
"No"
"What does that tell you we should do with the ball?"
"We should pass the ball"

I could easily have just told them "its better if they pass the ball" but by using this approach them feel as if they have to come to that conclusion by themselves, even if I have shown them up that path. They feel as if they are learning and react more positively to me asking them to pass.

[Hotelandywalker]

Dennis Bergkamp, on 02 February 2012 - 01:47, said:

For players that age, passing squares can be quite boring so i'd tend to use possession games to improve passing or do a passing drill whilst involving a shot at the end of it.

Most drills promoting control, pass or dribbling are boring to kids of almost any age. However, kids repeat drills that finish with them scoring a goal till the lights go out!!!

Try a 2v1 (2 strikers v 1 defender) drill where the strikers finish by shooting at a goal. You can vary where one of the strikers starts from eg back to goal in front of player in possession or on the other flank. This can be developed to improve the defender's positional sense as well. Player with back to goal can either play a return pass into space or "peel away" to make space and receive a pass. In later years you can develop this to 3v2 and 2v2 etc.

This post has been edited by Hotelandywalker: 04 February 2012 - 00:35