Hi John, I've seen this recently myself in our u9 team and is quite a natural desire for a youngster to express their need to get to goal and score the goal for all to see. I regularly challenge players individually by kneeling down to their level and setting a new goal for them. Perhaps passing the ball to set up a team mate is worth 3 goals in comparison to the individual and celebrate that achievement between you and the player. Even buddy buddy the player with another team mate and challenge him to look after them and then another to build responsibility for others and team work. I've had some positive results but it does take time, patience and good communication which you seem to have established with the parents as well so well done mate.

Hi John, I've seen this recently myself in our u9 team and is quite a natural desire for a youngster to express their need to get to goal and score the goal for all to see. I regularly challenge players individually by kneeling down to their level and setting a new goal for them. Perhaps passing the ball to set up a team mate is worth 3 goals in comparison to the individual and celebrate that achievement between you and the player. Even buddy buddy the player with another team mate and challenge him to look after them and then another to build responsibility for others and team work. I've had some positive results but it does take time, patience and good communication which you seem to have established with the parents as well so well done mate.

Thanks very much for your response Andrew, I did try something similar to the buddy approach as initially he worked very well with her, however the desire to score has taken away his teamwork completely.

The 3 points for a pass is a very good idea, as he's very competitive and I'll definitely try and implement that at the next training session.