Hi Matthew, thanks for your question around squad/team selection for your Under 9 girls group.

This dilemma isn't an unusual one, so here are a few top tips:
1. YOUR CLUB PHILOSOPHY: Make sure that you are in line with what your club's philosophy says around young player development, practice session expectations and match-day game. If you are unsure about this information, contact your Youth Chairman.

2. COMMUNICATE CLEARLY WITH PARENTS: Once you have clarity around what your club philosophy encourages and advocates, share this information with parents. This can be done through your usual communication channels eg: WhatsApp. Better still, now that we can gather again for group meetings, how about setting up an evening for parents and children where you have 30 minutes with your parent group in your clubhouse explaining key details, while the girls have this time for 'free play' under the supervision of another qualified club coach who is there for safeguarding and safety reasons. You could then reciprocate by helping this coach do similar on another evening with their squad.

3. BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR MESSAGING: If one of your key messages is around equal game time for all of your girls so as to support their individual development, look to carry this out whereby the girls know that there will be rotation of players throughout games. You will see the benefit of these, not perhaps in outcomes every week (score line) but certainly in terms of young player development across the 4 'corners': technical, social, psychological and physical.

Let me know ow this sounds as a starting point for our discussion. Happy to pick up any further questions.

Regards,

Vinny Halsall
FA Grassroots Coach Development Team

I've had this dilema with my U9 girls. I want to be fair to them, but defining what "fair" is turns out to be difficult.

I used to give equal game time to all girls there on the day of a match. But is this actually fair when some of them barely make training and are not at matches often, whilst others are fully committed?

Also, some girls are very competitive and want to win. They will run through brick walls to get a result. Not because I make winning important, but because it's the way they are. Is it fair on them to throw a game they have worked hard to win by playing players that aren't that bothered about the result?

It's very difficult to balance these things. I find the best solution is to have a clear idea of what you are about, and to make sure you communicate with parents so their expectations are set accordingly.

I have a similar issue for a similar age group. We are trying to cement the numbers for a U7 and U8 side. However, I don't want loyal members to be penalised if we gain a few newbies over the summer.