Coaching Pack 5 – 8 Years

What Am I Coaching Today? How Do I Get Started? example Progression What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological example Physical Social How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder example What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? example

Fundamental movements – tag games How Do I Get Started? Stuck in the mud challenge, in a small area dependent on number of players. One team are the taggers and they try and tag the rest, players are stuck if the get tagged. Players can be freed by each other. Rotate taggers Progression Different teams tag different teams so players have to watch out for who is tagging them and who they are tagging. Red tag blue, blue tag yellow and yellow tag red, the white help free anyone who is stuck. Rotate roles Add a ball in each What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop close control dribbling skills Awareness of the game and where others are around them Physical Social Develop creative movement without a ball Develop communication to keep your team in the game How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Add safe zones. Less players as taggers Add a ball each Smaller area What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? How can you move to avoid been tagged? What things do you need to be aware of in the game? If a tagger is near you what can you do to get away from them

Individual possession – pirate adventure How Do I Get Started? 2 to 4 pirate ships with a group of pirates in each area without a ball, the pirates have to get from one ship to the other avoiding others, collecting treasure (cones) to take back to there ship. Coach/players/captain makes a variety of calls that act as triggers for the pirates to perform in the pirate ship. Add catchers in the sea and on the pirate ships to stop the pirates collecting treasure in a tag game. Add rewards for successful blocks. All of the above with a ball each. Add pirate catchers(defenders) who stop the other pirates from collecting treasure and taking back to there ship. The winning team is the pirates with the most treasure (cones) What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Dribbling to keep the ball under control to avoid others. Dribbling to get past and away from defenders. How and when to move to be successful Develop confidence with a ball Physical Social Movement skills (balance, co-ordination, speed and agility) Practice a variety of movement skills (running, skipping, jumping etc.) Sharing ideas in order to have more success How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Bigger pirate ships. More defenders Personal defenders for advanced players What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? How can I move to avoid others? How many different ways can you move? Show me how you move with a ball to get to the other pirate ship. When a defender is in your way what might you do with the ball so he/she cant stop you?

Individual possession How Do I Get Started? Travel from one circle to the next experimenting with a range of ways of moving to avoiding others and get to through the circles (nests). Players have to take a ball (dinosaur egg) each from one circle (nest) to another circle trying to keep control of the ball. Progression Each team has a circle each. Players collect the footballs from the other circles and return to there circle. One team tries to stop players from getting the football to there circle, rotate defending team. What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop the ability when and where to dribble with the ball Develop confidence of how to dribble the ball past and away from defenders. Physical Social Develop different types of movements in order to help you dribble the footballs Working together positively Sharing and listening to each others ideas How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Less defenders Defenders travel with a football Bigger circles Smaller Circles More defenders Add defenders in the circles What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? How might you kick a ball to give you more chance of keeping the ball? When/where would we dribble? How can our teammates help us? Defenders how can you become more successful?

Individual Possession - shielding How Do I Get Started? Players tasked to set themselves up an area as illustrated. Aim of the game is to keep possession inside their square, can they try and take it past their opponent and into a different box. Encourage players to try and get a numerous amount of touches before they leave area (5 touches). One square has no defender. Defender tries to steal the ball and puts it next to a cone to score, attackers gets ball and continues in new square. Progression Each square is 1v1 players try to get 5 touches to get a point, if defenders get the ball they try get 5 touches to get a point What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop the ability to keep possession Being creative – trying new things Physical Social Develop the ability to use their body in a number of ways in order to have more success Share ideas with another attacker to gain more ideas (try them out!) How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Bigger Boxes Play unopposed, both players have a ball each Smaller Boxes Both players have a ball and they are trying to get each others football What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? How can we protect the ball? When would we protect the ball? Show me a trick / try something new

1vs1 getting past a defender How Do I Get Started? Area set up as illustrated with an end zone near the goal Player starts with the ball in an end zone and dribbles out to make it 1vs1, if they get in to the opposing end zone they can score in the goal If Defender wins the ball they dribble it in to the end zone and try and score in the goal. After a goal is scored the game restarts like on the diagram but the player who conceded starts with the ball. Rotate who you are playing against What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop the ability to get past an opponent in a 1v1 situation Be creative in how you can get past a defender Develop the confidence to believe you can get past the defender Physical Social Developing ABC’s to get past a defender Share ideas in order to solve problems How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Unopposed lane Play with ball in hands like a tag rugby game Add a magic player who helps a player until they score add a defender Smaller lanes What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? What can you do when you are faced up against a defender? How can you get past a defender? What do you need to do / change once you get past the defender? How can I make it harder for them to get past me?

What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Goals goals goals How Do I Get Started? Robin hood - 4 Teams, 1 player from each team goes to retrieve a ball and score in there goal, next player goes and keep taking turns until all the footballs have gone. Play the game opposite, returning the footballs to the middle in a race one at a time. Players now score in the other goals, when they have all gone in the middle players get a ball out of there goal and continue to score in the other goals. The winner is the one with the fewest in there goal. Progression Add a defender and/or a GK for each goal Players dribble through the circle before the score What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop players ability to score whilst dribbling Develop players confidence to score whilst dribbling Physical Social Develop the ability to change direction quickly with a ball Discuss in your teams ways of been more successful How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Bigger / more goals Players use there hands to score / retrieve the ball More defenders and / or GK Players play as a team to get the ball in the goal, sharing the ball All players go at the same time What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? What type of touches did you have on the ball to keep it under control? What goal did you choose to score in and why? What did you do when a defender put pressure on you? What part of the goal did you aim for? What helped you make that decision? What ideas did you come up with as a team?

What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Recognising space How Do I Get Started? A circle with gates inside the circle. Half the players in red, half in yellow, all the reds start with a ball each Reds play the ball in to yellows who receive the ball and try to get through a gate in 4 touches or less and pass back to the same red. Rotate teams around. Same game but after going through a gate give the ball to a different red. Progression Add defenders to block the gates or tackle If D's win the ball they try and score into the side goals What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop different types of ways to receive a ball Develop communication with other players Develop an awareness of what's around you in a game Physical Social Developing movement off the ball to receive the ball Sharing and listening to other peoples ideas to help improve performance How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder defenders have a ball each Defenders can only intercept Make the gates bigger More defenders Players to try and combine in the middle More points for receiving through a gate in less touches. What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? Where could you receive a ball? How do you know what is around you when playing? Where would your first touch take you? How big is your first touch? What part of the foot can you use to receive the ball?

What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? EL RONDO How Do I Get Started? See diagram for set up. Players have a ball per square. They pass the ball to any of the other players on the other sides. Add a defender in from the next square, if the defender wins the ball they put the ball on the empty side. Or the defender swaps with the attacker who last touched the ball Players get double points for passing across Players now have a choice can they dribble to the spare side if its straight across or pass to the others. Progression Players move the ball inside the square rather than on the outside of it. What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop players ability to make a range of short passes Develop communication with others Physical Social Develop problem solving, how can I get the ball across? How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Make the square bigger Have no defender A defender with a ball Smaller area Tall cones to block passes Limit number of touches What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? How can you pass the ball to your team mates? What different parts of the foot can you use? When can you play across? What is the benefit of a first time pass? 5 points for a first time pass When can you dribble to the spare side?

Combining with others to keep possession How Do I Get Started? Pitch split up into 3 areas, two end areas are considerable smaller than the middle area 2v2 in the middle area, players score by getting the ball to either player in the end zone. Next goal is scored at the opposite end zone. Team out of possession try and steal the ball and pass in to an end zone. Progression Add defender in middle area Add another attacker in middle area who plays for the team in possession Make the game directional – one way to score only What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop ability to dribble the ball. Start to think about passing and using others to keep possession Select when you dribble or share the ball with your team mate Physical Social Develop a range of football related movements to get past defenders Discuss ways to get the ball to the end zone players without the opposition stopping you. How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Play unopposed, 1 ball per team. Add an extra attacker who plays for the team in possession Add an extra defender in the middle area 2v3 Smaller end zones What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? Why is our first touch important? What part of the foot would we use? What directions can your first touch take you? And why? How can your teammates help you?

What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Score and Change How Do I Get Started? Split players into small sided teams as shown, players bib up as shown GK’s optional When a goal is scored the player must leave their pitch, record the goal on the whiteboard against their colour team Teams must keep at least one player on their pitch at all times Progression Allow players to swap pitches whenever they want – what do they base their decision on? When the coach shouts go one player from each team swaps pitch What Might the Players Learn or Get Better at? Technical Psychological Develop dribbling and passing skills in a small sided game For player to deal with challenges and problems they may face in a positive way Physical Social Develop physical movements used in a game In teams discuss ways to improve teams total score How Do I Make Changes to the Practice? Easier Harder Players move to a team where there are more players Play with ball in hands Add an extra ball per pitch Move to a team where there are less players Move to the team which have the least amount of points on whiteboard Can only score on a new pitch after setting up a team mate What Questions Can I Ask to Support Players’ Learning? What have you found difficult? Why? When did you swap pitches? What part of the pitch did you run to when you swapped pitches? What position on the pitch could you move towards to help that team? Try and challenge yourself – how can you do this?