Good question. For me, working with an age range from about 4 to 9, our emphasis is almost exclusively on being in possession, i.e. individually keeping the ball close. Then during certain exercises, kids will simply lose possession because they cannot keep close control and/or shield the ball. So you don't actually need to coach any type of tackling, it just happens naturally with minimal contact.

It is more of an issue among the older players. I have noted some kids who are completely fearless when it comes to putting their foot in, and they are also the ones most likely to commit a foul simply because they cannot properly judge the action, while others don't like any form of contact.

For me, the solution would be to encourage the kids to 'press' more, i.e. shut the player down, block him off, rather than 'tackle'. This can be worked on in small sided games, or 2 v 2s, 3 v 3s, etc. But it is quite tricky to put into practice at this age (especially with only 1 hour each week) which is the other reason for focusing on being in possession.

Good question. For me, working with an age range from about 4 to 9, our emphasis is almost exclusively on being in possession, i.e. individually keeping the ball close. Then during certain exercises, kids will simply lose possession because they cannot keep close control and/or shield the ball. So you don't actually need to coach any type of tackling, it just happens naturally with minimal contact.

It is more of an issue among the older players. I have noted some kids who are completely fearless when it comes to putting their foot in, and they are also the ones most likely to commit a foul simply because they cannot properly judge the action, while others don't like any form of contact.

For me, the solution would be to encourage the kids to 'press' more, i.e. shut the player down, block him off, rather than 'tackle'. This can be worked on in small sided games, or 2 v 2s, 3 v 3s, etc. But it is quite tricky to put into practice at this age (especially with only 1 hour each week) which is the other reason for focusing on being in possession.