Hi Andrew, I think all of these skills are important and I would work on all of them. I think the most important thing is equipping players with all of the relevant skills and giving them the opportunity to make their own choices in games. Allowing them to pick when to pass, dribble etc will be most beneficial to their development. Of course, if there are times when you think they didn't get it quite right then talk it through with them/ask them why they did what they did and if there could have been any other things they could have done. It also depends on the individuals. Some may be better at passing, some better at dribbling - so having individual / mini group approaches may help too. Hope that helps. 

Hi Andrew,

I wonder if the players could pass as good on strength and accuracy.

For me, I always ask them ‘what is your decision?’ or ‘do you have better ideas?’ to instead of pass.

I think the individual skills are more important at that ages. The other That really vital is let the players to understand why we need to pass, not only for passing.

Any ideas?

Hi Andrew

Again as with everyone I think everyone has their own opinions and views on this. Personally as someone that coaches u8 and u12 teams at this age group I believe limited coaching should be given and they should just play and express them selfs without fear of not doing the right thing. at this age they don’t understand the concept of passing and the benefit of it. 

Hi Andrew 

i have took over an u8 side and had notice that one player who is technically much better than most had been told to pass,pass,pass previously. This was probably the case coz he can shoot like a 11 yr old.

but it has hampered his decision making this season has he is more than likely thinking hes doing the wrong thing by shooting or running with it,

I have spoke to his parents and with the lad himself to say just do what feel right in the moment, there are no repercussions for trying things if its their own decision

My understanding of the FA's model is that personal possession is the most important attribute at this age. I recently purchased a book by two well-known Italian grassroots coaches and they appeared to agree. In fact, they coach shooting ahead of passing at this age, which makes perfect sense.

What I have found, in practice, with my own players, is that it pays for me to emphasise to them good examples of passing. By coincidence, on Sunday, one of the parents captured an excellent video clip from our match where three of our U8 players combined for a goal. I will now take this to training and show them what can be achieved when players think about passing.

I’d suggest that unless you have exceptional players, or are training them three times a week, at this age the focus shoukd be on ball mastery - control, run, dribble.  Passing is an essential skill but I’d suggest the FA say to focus on that only once ball mastery is there.

I totally agree with the core skills approach. I've also found the 'less exceptional' are also the ones most likely to pass it, so I make sure to stress their contribution.

As an aside, I ran my first indoor session for some of the U7 and U8 as an extra mini-event this week. I used the floor markings to set up a rondo as an arrival game (never done one in training before). And the kids loved it! I assume because it's classic piggy in the middle stuff. Would recommend for fun if for nothing else.