Hi Alexander,

My opinion would be based around the format of the games you paly.. for us were still at 5v5 and so we are encouraging and working with players to play in multiple positions.. but at the same time were not just simply rotating them just to rotate.

What I mean by this and I'll use my own son as the example... he wasn't as confident as some of the others in the group and so I began his football development as the defender in a diamond formation of our outfield players.. we then coached the team to always pass the ball to him from goal kicks then the opposition has to retreat to the half way line... this game him more touches in a match scenario and more time to improve in a real situation...

Then after we coached him in training on footwork dribbling, looking up and passing to name a few things, we then have move him into one of the wider positions.. again not in the thick of it all but further up field which is proving more of a challenge for him but being on the side he can now understand players are to the left or right of him but not yet possibly behind him...

This has been more of a tailored approach I've used with a few of our kids, and so they've learnt and become skilled at jockeying, defender, passing, looking up and now can more confidently progress. If I had moved them around just to move all around equally I don't believe they would have developed as well as when we tried this in the early days, they would lose the ball fast, get less touches of the ball in  game and become demoralised... but giving them a role so early on gave them purpose and motivated them and with that confidence I've been able to challenge them more without it being a totally negative experience as they rotate back to a more familiar role during the game still.

So I would say that based on your players abilities they will naturally grasp different aspects more than others and due to that they will inevitably become more defensive minded or attacking minded.. that's not a bad thing... some of our attacking players struggle to defend so we focus on that in training and try and get them to defend from the front, thus giving the others in the team a rest and then more time as the opposition are forced back..

I'd say take a look at each player individually, and work with them to set and try to achieve realistic goals, which is a great skill for them to learn. A player who can't yet strike the ball well yet shouldn't be expecting to play upfront and score 50 goals a season. It maybe what they want to ultimately achieve and our roles as coaches, in my opinion anyway is to break down that end goal into smaller more achievable goals and then progress from there..

Whilst they have mastered say defending then rotate them to maybe a slightly more advance/difficult position that fits into their goals but I would say to not just rotate them all into every position as that from my experience doesn't help them develop skills to a level they need in games.

Hi Alexander,

My opinion would be based around the format of the games you paly.. for us were still at 5v5 and so we are encouraging and working with players to play in multiple positions.. but at the same time were not just simply rotating them just to rotate.

What I mean by this and I'll use my own son as the example... he wasn't as confident as some of the others in the group and so I began his football development as the defender in a diamond formation of our outfield players.. we then coached the team to always pass the ball to him from goal kicks then the opposition has to retreat to the half way line... this game him more touches in a match scenario and more time to improve in a real situation...

Then after we coached him in training on footwork dribbling, looking up and passing to name a few things, we then have move him into one of the wider positions.. again not in the thick of it all but further up field which is proving more of a challenge for him but being on the side he can now understand players are to the left or right of him but not yet possibly behind him...

This has been more of a tailored approach I've used with a few of our kids, and so they've learnt and become skilled at jockeying, defender, passing, looking up and now can more confidently progress. If I had moved them around just to move all around equally I don't believe they would have developed as well as when we tried this in the early days, they would lose the ball fast, get less touches of the ball in  game and become demoralised... but giving them a role so early on gave them purpose and motivated them and with that confidence I've been able to challenge them more without it being a totally negative experience as they rotate back to a more familiar role during the game still.

So I would say that based on your players abilities they will naturally grasp different aspects more than others and due to that they will inevitably become more defensive minded or attacking minded.. that's not a bad thing... some of our attacking players struggle to defend so we focus on that in training and try and get them to defend from the front, thus giving the others in the team a rest and then more time as the opposition are forced back..

I'd say take a look at each player individually, and work with them to set and try to achieve realistic goals, which is a great skill for them to learn. A player who can't yet strike the ball well yet shouldn't be expecting to play upfront and score 50 goals a season. It maybe what they want to ultimately achieve and our roles as coaches, in my opinion anyway is to break down that end goal into smaller more achievable goals and then progress from there..

Whilst they have mastered say defending then rotate them to maybe a slightly more advance/difficult position that fits into their goals but I would say to not just rotate them all into every position as that from my experience doesn't help them develop skills to a level they need in games.