Ball Mastery in the Foundation Phase

Question

Hi all hoping to get some clarification on what good ball mastery practice looks like for foundation phase players. I currently work with an U8s grassroots team and I want to help my young players to master the ball. In every training session, part of our practice is dedicated to every player having a ball and I would like some guidance on the type of practice that is effective at improving players' technical skills 
 Is effective ball mastery the coach showing the players different skills/moves for them to repeat and practice? Or can effective ball mastery be a playground game (tag for example) but with a football and the players being dribblers? 
 I have tended to use a game of tag as our ball mastery practice instead of practicing skills (turns, 1v1 moves) and I am worried that as a result, I am not achieving my goal of helping the players to master the ball. 
 Any opinions on how other coaches approach ball mastery or what I should do would be really helpful

Mark Woodhouse · Answer

Hi Cameron 
 If we want to help young kids master the ball I always felt it was better to look at it as a sensory stimulation exercise for them. So number 1 was to have the ball lots and lots, touching it with all parts of the body not just the feet as we are also raising spacial awareness utilising other senses not just the ones in our feet. So just playing with a ball is developing a child as nothing ever happens in isolation, so all their senses are always active. Once my kids became comfortable with the ball itself and I don't mean like Messi or Ronaldhino but aware of it in their personal space an being comfortable with it, we progressed onto to different techniques through visual learning by giving examples and practicing them in lots of different little fun games, from Simon says to panna,other 1v1 formats, 2v1's 2v2's, so as to heighten the opportunities for them to express what they were experiencing but importantly giving them platforms to try them in. Perception was a big thing for me so always wanted the kids to see football as a highly expressive and creative experience, so lots of freedom to try things and there were no right or wrongs to free the child up to express themelves. Make the ball fun, after all any decision they ever make on a football pitch will have the ball at its heart. 
 If we want the kids we coach to be technically good with the ball we have to let them see one lot's. I would give every child a ball to take home and bring back to training with them. As that way they could continue their experiences at home, s they can't take team home and practice it in the garden but they can take a ball home and heighten their experiences with it ️ 
 ️

England Football Learning > Youth club football

Ball Mastery in the Foundation Phase

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