Me and my friend are planning to start train our village youngsters (~8 year old). But we have not much instructions for it. So we need some help. We are planning to start in winter so training will be in hall in winter.
Do You people have any instructions and stuff for teacing youngsters?
Cheers.

well, try to make practice fun, like dont make them run 40 times around the field for no reason and stuff like, they lose interest. Just make practice fun for them and they'll show interest and improve.

maybe if they do stuff right reward them?

think of different ways to do drills and scrimages. When im coaching my team i play a little game called world cup which teaches them how to pass and look up ofter. If ya wanna no more just pm me ok?

Me and my mate help some of our coaches train the primary kids. You have to make it all gun and game if its going to be u8's, but work on their first touch alot and try and make them not scared of the ball. But the first touch is the most important, make like two teams and give each team a point for whoever control it properly etc.

well when i was a kid theres this kid a bit older than me. hes kinda llike coach back then. he gave us his secret, learn how to kick and control. at first its kinda lame. but when you start playing, its amazing how can you pass the ball to the other flank, or control the hard ball with ease...

when your squadis quite decent at that, then you should proceed to regular training

goodluck mate

thanks

Also Id like to know that which ball would be better for youngsters, 4 or 5 sized?

I'd go with size 4, as for tips, well their 8 years old, their attention span isnt too long, so your activites would have to include the core basics of football as well as making them interesting so that they dont lose concentration.


I'd work on passing and dribbling and i'd also give some sort of incentive to do the activities well.

I've found a great site, where I can take some good stuff
http://www.footy4kids.co.uk/

Always change the practice each week, that way they have to stay focused.

I'm training U8 currently.... I love it!
I make them work on their weak foot and lots of dribbling!
We were playing 4v4 and the average final was 20-1

I'm training U8 currently.... I love it!
I make them work on their weak foot and lots of dribbling!
We were playing 4v4 and the average final was 20-1 thorugh the season

I'm training U8 currently.... I love it!
I make them work on their weak foot and lots of dribbling!
We were playing 4v4 and the average final was 20-1 thorugh the season

For children Ages 6 - 10.

First rule always have the goal keeper involved in the tachnical aspect of a training session dont always have them work aside with an assistant because they do not veiw the game the same as someone who did start as a player (Fabian Barthez).

With youngsters (age 6 - 10) you want to always focus on technique; passing, dribbling, ball control. You never wan't to rush into the tacktical aspect on the game; how to defend as a team or how play attacking football. control is the most important aspect in a younge childs life. Without control how can you recive a pass? How can you sprint with the ball? How can you fient with great affectivness? How can you pass? All of those aspects have to do with control.

You also want to challenge your players when you see thay have accomplshed a task without any problem you chould stepit up and make it more challenging. It is very important to keep there intrest either by not staying an a drill for too long 10 - 15 mins, or give them something more challenging but not not something to challenging.

Insentive is also a very good way of motivating kids but it is only effective with competitive team activities. I have been coaching kids for a while and I learned that the best way to build a team is to challenge a childs ability especially with the ball at his feet. I no longer let a child leave without having improved on his touch. Infact 2 of my previous student now play for team Canada U-13 but it wasn't my doing they were just super talented (they were just good).

If you do alot of ball work with you kids it will help develop there own type of technique (there dribbling), most kid if they watch footbal usually like to copy a certain players style (Messi, C.Ronaldo, Ronaldinho etc.) and you will notice it but the more ball work they do the more they will develop there own sense of how to pass a defender at a great effectiveness based on what type of player he is. Coping these player is fine but you want them to learn to play basesd on what they are capable of and what is most effecive to them. They may copy these playes but it wont be as affective because it is not someting they have established as there own.

Never keep a child at one single position. Why? because even if it where your best defender on the team you want to always chanlleng there passing ability and technical abiltity (move him into centre midfield ), you wan't all your players to be able to read the game from all areas of the field. (Total football) Some of these skill do come in handy and you may never know if the child is better at defending than what he is in the midfield. this mainly applies to midfielders and defenders.

p.s. It is also good to start you warm-ups with an activity that gets the brain thinking. And always end with a team game to keep them motivated and excited. 18 year olds even enjoy scimages near the end of practice sessions as well. I find that with scimages players have more desire to win than when they dont + it gives kids a chance to try a few new tricks, so they can find themselves as players.

I should wright a book or something.

Why the hell do you idiots keep bumping old topics?

If its useful then who cares how old the topic is. I was actually looking for a topic like this, oh look here it is how convenient.

Yes but thats why there is a search function

I've been using that link for the last 2 years, I was just about to past it onto the thread starter. It's a fantastic link. When I started 2 years ago I had 12 kids in my group now I have 36 kids.

As for what size ball use a size 3 it's perfect (I coach under 10's).

My mate is working on CD at the moment and hoping to get THE FA involved in it as well, whereby the CD will demonstrated in 3D drills aimed at specific age groups, to coaches like you some idea of what to do, it will also contain nutrional information and the rest.