Boomtown Boy Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Good post thanks, I will certainly roll a few of these ideas out at traning on Wed. Just a few more questions (could probably ask about 500 but will take to long to write) What do you find the best number of boys to work with is for 1 coach? We normally split into 2 grous with 10 boys in each and have 2 coaches for each group but I think I would like to whittle it down to lower and have maybe 4 groups of 5 (easier to control) What do you think? Do you think kids should have a ball at all times during training sessions? This might sound a daft question but here goes, how much do you talk and train about specific game scenarios e.g. sometimes I want to stop the training session and explain to them what would have happened in a game scenario if they made the same choice (like kicking the ball straight accross the face of their goals and losing a goal, this hapens often but I stop practise game and pick them up for it but next time they do the exact same, marking on the wrong side is another one trying to make them aware of space as well and that you cant pass the ball through players) have done this but a few of them look at me like I have horns when trying to explain football to them. Am I expecting too much to think they might retain some of this info and use it at a later date? Finally, thanks again I will let you know if they respond to anything you have suggested. I am sorry this can only be a one way street at the moment but as soon as I find something that works for me and I think others will benefit I will let everyone know!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Good post thanks, I will certainly roll a few of these ideas out at traning on Wed. Just a few more questions (could probably ask about 500 but will take to long to write) What do you find the best number of boys to work with is for 1 coach? We normally split into 2 grous with 10 boys in each and have 2 coaches for each group but I think I would like to whittle it down to lower and have maybe 4 groups of 5 (easier to control) What do you think? Do you think kids should have a ball at all times during training sessions? This might sound a daft question but here goes, how much do you talk and train about specific game scenarios e.g. sometimes I want to stop the training session and explain to them what would have happened in a game scenario if they made the same choice (like kicking the ball straight accross the face of their goals and losing a goal, this hapens often but I stop practise game and pick them up for it but next time they do the exact same, marking on the wrong side is another one trying to make them aware of space as well and that you cant pass the ball through players) have done this but a few of them look at me like I have horns when trying to explain football to them. Am I expecting too much to think they might retain some of this info and use it at a later date? Finally, thanks again I will let you know if they respond to anything you have suggested. I am sorry this can only be a one way street at the moment but as soon as I find something that works for me and I think others will benefit I will let everyone know!!!! Dont worry about that, just ask away ! We're all here to help each other ! To answer your first question, i think the smaller the ratio the better. 4 coaches with 5 players each are always going to be able to focus on individuals better than say, 2 coaches with 10 each. Now onto using the ball in training. I like to do a warm up with out the ball (jogging with dynamic stretching). then introduce a 2nd drill with the ball just to let them get a feel of the ball. Another good idea is to have a couple of little drills set up to mess about with while you wait for everyone to get there. I like to keep stopping during training to a minimal, maybe one or two stops. Give suggestions for them to try instead of telling them to do something. Just about to leave the house, have a friendly set up with the younger age group so hopefully get a good performance and a chance to pass the ball about with a little less pressure on them. Im sure BTID will come in with a better answer anyway haha ! Best of luck mate All that bar the dynamic stretching maybe? I haven't work with kids that young on any consistent basis but would probably keep stretches simple and static until maybe 11 or 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Also paul, I assume thats ''bankies til I die'? I still have nightmares of that semi-final in 2009 up in alexandria. Never forgiven yous! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTID Posted March 5, 2013 Author Share Posted March 5, 2013 Yes Paul a great day down the vale pity bout the final right enough! Although we beat Pollok a few weeks back we've been pretty poor since new year. Boom fire away as many questions as you like - a coach is always learning that's why I started the thread to share and pick up ideas! To answer your q's: 1. Player: coach ratio - to be honest either is great imo prob depends on what you are working on. 4 coaches means the players will get plenty of support and advice! Working in small groups is good as GT says means you can watch the group more closely. 2. Ballwork: yes absolutely! No harm in doing things like tig or fun relays without now and then but almost every practice can be adapted to encorporate a ball. Even at U14, my full sessions will include a ball - warmup to game. 3. Coaching points - great question. I was taught that if it's a common problem amount the group and it's happening often then pausing the game and explaining / ask questions of the group is good practice. If its just 1 individual who keeps making a mistake, pull them out the game and grab a quiet word. That way the game flows without disrupting the session and the player has 1:1 time to understand what to do better. However, I always make sure I do as little coaching as possible for the last 15-20 mins of a session...let the boys play and see if they learn from their mistakes! Hope this helps some great advice from the guys above already. We are off to play Motherwell pro youth tonight - expecting them to be much bigger and physically built than us. Not really concerned about a result, hopefully we can go and play some good football playing against one of the strongest PY sides in Scotland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTID Posted March 6, 2013 Author Share Posted March 6, 2013 Great experience for our lads last night, played quite well first 40 mins worked the ball well at times and missed a few sitters in front of goal. Motherwell were superb, their movement and the way they kept the ball was fantastic. I'd like to think we are very good at retaining possession but in the 2nd half we chased shadows and tired. Fair play to our lads though we always tried to play our own style ultimately came up against the most talented boys at our age group across the country. Might have lost 5 nil but 2 of those in the last 5 mins of the 80...so actually we'd been pretty well organised defensively until that point. They beat Inverness PY 8-1 at the weekend so don't feel so bad about the result! Not many boys clubs able to compete with elite clubs at their own age group so I'm pleased we gave a decent account of ourselves and learned from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomtown Boy Posted March 7, 2013 Share Posted March 7, 2013 Tried to post this last night but had a few problems accessing p&b. Anyway, had one of the best training sessions so far with the lads last night. I rolled out the "put your hands on your ears if you are listening" tip that you gave me and it worked a treat, really well! If there were a few chatting when I was trying to speak and I said this, you are right that the ones not listening noticed a sudden change in the group stopped talking and refocused their attention to me. We are trying to introduce 7`s to the group in stages so divided the group into 2 of10 and I worked with the ones we thought are ready to take this step. Explained that they need to listen and try especially hard as we all need to move up a level in concentration and effort and they really responded. Another quick question, I found my self being very repetitive with what I was saying during small games, this is ok right? Phrases like "slow it down" "take a touch" "lift your head and look at where your teammates are" "move into a space" were rolled out numerous times but I want them think for themselves as well but just find it hard to shut my mouth like you said for the last period of training!! Lastly, how much do you reckon coaches should get involved in practise drills and the games? I sometimes jump into an excercise if its not quite going the way I want to try and show them by example and do the same sometimes with the game, if ball comes near where I am standing I will take control of it ask who is in space and wanting a pass and pass it to them to spread play a bit or if one of the better players has the ball stuck to his foot and doesnt want to pass I will approach to tackle (though I dont, me coming towards them makes them think of where the pass is or they will get tackled). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTID Posted March 7, 2013 Author Share Posted March 7, 2013 That's brilliant mate glad it worked well! I would say its a good thing to be constantly passing on little coaching points, as long as you are letting the players make decisions for themselves it's important to praise players and give feedback. On your last point about spreading out, have you ever tried a conditioned game that works on positioning rather than kicking the ball into a space? If you make a cross on the pitch with 2 lines of cones from corner to corner it makes 4 triangles. Place your players in those zones which means you can have a defender, two wide players and forward. Players must stay in their zones and play little 1v1 battles. The players will learn to hold their shape and also should pass the ball more with the space available. Can them shout 'square' to progress that everyone can go anywhere but when it gets congested or keeper has the ball get them back into their 'triangles'. Can't play this game enough with my 03-05's works really well hope it makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 9, 2013 Share Posted March 9, 2013 We've got Rangers on Sunday - beat them in October but wasn't an easy one Photo on the left was from that game actually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTID Posted March 9, 2013 Author Share Posted March 9, 2013 Unlucky on the game, still a brilliant experience for the boys ! Gives them an opportunity to see what they could move onto if they apply themselves right. Did Motherwell approach you for the game or was it the other way round ? Just a league game for us tomorrow but I honestly can't wait. Been a good atmosphere round training the past week, coaching is great when everything is going right but its terrible when it isn't !!! Two extremes !!! best of luck this weekend guys One of our boys is on trial there so I asked if we could play them. Their boys are in training 4 nights a week so it was pretty much full time vs part time. The gulf in quality between the two was clear but I do see a lot of potential in this group to really give them a good game if we can add to the squad and build during the summer. Of course easier said than done when clubs are sniffing around! Good luck to all the teams this weekend, let us know how it went! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTID Posted March 11, 2013 Author Share Posted March 11, 2013 A parent has one role and one role only - to support and encourage the team. The only people players should be listening to are the coaches. Know how you feel though, we always drum it into our players that it's us in charge and they shouldn't listen to any instruction from elsewhere although I know how difficult that can be for some. Head up GT, how do you think the coaches could do better? Our game today just about made it with the snowfall. Team played well in difficult conditions won 11-1...neither team really getting much out of the game tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 A ten minute snowstorm put paid to fur game with rangers yesterday. Same as the last time we were meant to play them. A snowball fight ended up being the order of the day. As for the parents thing, we only have a couple of problematic individuals, but I think im the only one who sees one of them as a problem. I hate coaches telling players everything they should be doing and where they should be because at this aye its all about learning but its even worse when you have a parent thinking he is mourino and telling every player what to do. Also had a parent sent off in a friendly a few weeks ago for abusing the ref - was a long time coming and during the games, the guy is vile tbh. Other guy has spoken to him and I spoke to him a while ago but if it keeps up we'll need to drop his boy or risk the club being reported Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 11, 2013 Share Posted March 11, 2013 We won a game 16-3 earlier this season. Just gets unpleasant to watch. You try and get them to keep the score down but tbf to them, not many boys are gonna pass up a chance to just score if they can - particularly boys that sometimes get less game time. Incidentally that team moved to a league more suited to them and are 2nd or 3rd last I heard. Good to see because they were getting nothing from being in our league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis Bergkamp Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Anyway, any of you got experience with trying to shut up parents on the sideline. At times I've had to have a word with some of them about it (shouting out tactics, being negative) but they just go back to the same pish the next weekend ! If it isn't positive encouragement, I don't want to hear a word out them. At the start of every season we have a meeting with parents and players, basically to introduce ourselves and let them know what they can expect. Part of that meeting discusses what is and is not acceptable behaviour for players and parents. I once had a situation where a certain parent wouldn't shut up on the side line; shouting abuse at the referee and, worse in my opinion, trying to coach his son. The boy was substituted and told to go round to the other side of the pitch to tell his Dad to shut up. I think its maybe a bit different coaching at pro youth level as everyone knows they have standards to hit (hope that didn't sound patronising!) and that certain things just won't be tolerated or your boy will be released. The meeting we had at the start of the season means that, when these situations arise, you can point to the code of conduct that everyone was given and say to them that they agreed to it, its about time they behaved appropriately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul-r-cfc Posted March 12, 2013 Share Posted March 12, 2013 Training off again tonight because of the weather - it's been bloody wreaking havoc with our season and we're gonna have a hefty backlog. Got tower hearts away from home on sunday. Beat them in the cup last week but they're the only team we're yet to play in the league this season. Also we've been invited to the Carbrain Tournament at the start of June which we're most likely going to sign up for - same weekend of the league cup final so IF we get to that it'll hopefully be a busy weekend Week after that on the 7th/8th will be the regional final where we'll hopefully be playing Arsenal or BTID's Milngavie (unfortunately I'll be sunning it up in Croatia that weekend ( ) so if we get there I'll miss it) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bankie Posted March 17, 2013 Share Posted March 17, 2013 Looking for a wee bit of guidance here guys. I have a situation that is alien to me, given my amateur background before working with kids. Obviously you are wanting all kids to enjoy their football, and for it to be fun at this age, but we are getting to the stage where we are looking to put a team together for 11s next year, and there are a couple of boys who, with the best will in the world, are not going to get a lot of game time given the fact we are merging two 7s squads. If I am being honest, they are only getting a lot of game time just now as we have had 8 bodies the past two weeks. I like to give each boy a fair crack at the whip but two boys just don't seem to grasp it at all and to escalate matters one of the boys is autistic (lovely boy but its tough trying to get through to him and get him to take instruction. Any advice gratefully appreciated. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bankie Posted March 18, 2013 Share Posted March 18, 2013 Hi mate, Obviously a very difficult situation with the boy with learning difficulties. However just because we move to 11 a sides doesn't mean we have to suddenly become competitive. We would never turn away a boy for not being what we consider good enough at this age. Footballs meant to be fun and the focus is on the boys becoming better footballers. Give them a chance, have subs come on a rotation basis if needs be. If you don't feel like a boy is going to be able to play at least let them still come to training every week ( Maybe best for the boy with autism). Best of luck Cheers for that mate Spot on with what you say. I have no intention of binning them (couldn't anyway due to lack of numbers) and hopefully the longer I work with them, I will start to break through and have them working the way I want them to. The problem we have is trying to curb the frustration of the better boys in the team, and I have taken steps to address this, by talking to them saying I am looking for them to step up and help these guys develop rather than having a go at the boys as it is not their fault. The boys forget that the two guys concerned have never played for a team before joining so it is going to take a while. I am toying with the idea of removing them from the sevens league just now as I don't think pumpings week on week will do much for the confidence of any of them, and just working with them at training.I drill it into them each week that the result is not important,, as long as the effort is there. Another issue is when we merge with the other 2001 team to make an 11s team, and how the boys take to that. BTID how do you fancy a side project Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurbineTon Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 You sound spot on coaching wise ! Currently working with an under 13's team as an assistant coach and we've found stepping up to 11-a-sides a bit of a mixed bag to be honest. We came in really un-prepared (No fault of my own) with only about 2/3 games at full size under our belt, so the performances in the first few games were a bit un-certain. Find it a really difficult age to coach at times as we enter the 'black hole' years ! For me at this sort of age group it isn't about the results, its about how we act and play as a team. When coaching I don't really think there's anything to add compared to what you've said at the top ! Always try to keep it structured, give the players positive encouragement and to keep a ball at their feet for as long as we can at training. One of my pet hates of youth football is seeing teams line up to take shots into the goalie before they kick off a game !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Forgot to mention its the Paisley and Johnstone District we play in ! Who are you coaching mate? I'm in the exact same boat as you. Currently coaching an u'13's team that have only this season made the step up to 11's. Like you, it was pretty difficult at first but we have began to find our feet and recently went on a 7 game un beaten run. The biggest problem i have is the certain few lads who turn up and just carry on. I find myself dedicating more time trying to get them to listen than i do actually running through various exercises. We have a good few cracking lads in our team who, with time, should make the step up to pro-youth. I'm also in the Paisley & Johnstone league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTID Posted March 19, 2013 Author Share Posted March 19, 2013 Cheers for that mate Spot on with what you say. I have no intention of binning them (couldn't anyway due to lack of numbers) and hopefully the longer I work with them, I will start to break through and have them working the way I want them to. The problem we have is trying to curb the frustration of the better boys in the team, and I have taken steps to address this, by talking to them saying I am looking for them to step up and help these guys develop rather than having a go at the boys as it is not their fault. The boys forget that the two guys concerned have never played for a team before joining so it is going to take a while. I am toying with the idea of removing them from the sevens league just now as I don't think pumpings week on week will do much for the confidence of any of them, and just working with them at training.I drill it into them each week that the result is not important,, as long as the effort is there. Another issue is when we merge with the other 2001 team to make an 11s team, and how the boys take to that. BTID how do you fancy a side project I'm on mega bucks here will take a large offer for me to be tempted lol The weaker players debate is something I don't like commenting on - as I think it really depends on the individual, the level the team is at, the age group etc. As long as your building year on year to create a team that is willing to work hard and listen to improve then the rest usually falls into place. Players move on to bigger and better things, others move on to find their own level. That's the way I see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boomtown Boy Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 Me again..with another question, surprise, surprise. What is a good number for a squad of a 7`s team? We have around 20 kids so would a 10/10 split be enough for 2 squads or do you think we need a few new players? Also on what criterion would you make the split? Age/ability/random? Would you then treat these 2 teams as separate entities and rejoin again when coming to play 11`s? Looking at the long term plan lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TurbineTon Posted March 19, 2013 Share Posted March 19, 2013 I'm with Houston United in division 2, what about yourself ? We've probably crossed paths or will in the future ! nice to speak to someone from the same league, how you finding the league and the opposition this year ? We can be pretty hit or miss, struggle for consistency but we play really good attacking passing football. Its mostly the back four we struggle with ! Yeah boys not listening and fannying about can be a problem for us aswell and it always seems to be the same two or three ! If your struggling to get them to listen maybe when your talking just throw in 'put your hands on your ears if your listening to me'. When they see theyre the only ones not doing it theyll be embaressed and might stop. That's been an idea floated about on this topic for younger kids but I think it will probably still do the trick. Best of luck mate PJDYFL 4 LIFE I'm with Broomhill BC (From Greenock, not to be confused with the Glasgow team) Don't think we are in your league. You're probably the league above us. Some of the teams in our league are decent. Pollock BC spriing to mind. They get the ball down and pass it about. We played Linwood Rangers in a cup game and were blown away. They are a really good side tbh. Thanks for the advice. I'll be sure to try it tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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