Thanks, Mark. I've used Bib tag before to try and teach the players how to use their body and a turn to protect their ball from the bib tagger. I think next time I'll give the dribbler bonus skill points if they use a type of turn and keep changing which turn earns a bonus point each round to push the players to try something new. I think I'll give the Stay on the ball session a try next

Futsal is excellent for ball mastery, and playing under pressure. They have fun and learn fast with plenty of touches in a game environment. My sons both play futsal. It's a leveller also as the bigger faster children can't really run it from one end to another.

Working with similar age groups, I have found, and have witnessed the same tactic at other clubs, that a general warm up where all players are together in an area with a ball is a great time to work on ball mastery.

Start off getting them moving around with the ball; then carousel it, e.g.

• Right foot only;
• Left foot only:
• Three touches, then stop the ball with the sole;
• Three touches, outside cut;
• Three touches, step over...

The options are unlimited. You can also incorporate cones or gates in the area for an extra challenge. 

Like so many other aspects of the game, the kids who are playing football on their own, with family, at school, etc, are the ones who will master the above quite quickly. The other kids who don't will probably never surpass the first three listed above. But that's mixed ability football for you.

Our group love it as they've seen the skills they've developed over time. For a session with this in it, we'll run a consistent session formats so the boys know if we're doing this, it'll progress into a match like situation where they put it into practice. It's a good activation session, getting them properly warmed up and they can focus on the skills before they're tired and get sloppy. We have a bit of fun with them in it, it's fairly relaxed. We sometimes ask one of them to lead a trick they've been practising and let the others have a go at it too so they have some control over it too.

I’ve found despite being setup and ready it takes 5 minutes to settle at the start of a session so I’ve introduced a skill of the week. 1 skill which starts static and can then be progressed with a moving ball. Do this for the first 5+ minutes each week using just a ball and a cone or two. Then set them homework to practice it at home.

1. Hi Cameron. U/8 foundation players just need a ball at their feet to start developing mastery of it. Small sided games in smaller areas are a win win. It will aid with learning ball control and help them develop spatial awareness in a game situation. Keep it simple because ultimately the game is!! 

Hi Cameron Moulton 

Thank you for your question. There has been some great engagement with other coaches on this feed which is great to see. It sounds as though you are already no the right track in terms of supporting your players development through ball mastery exercises.

The key for me, especially at this age, is to keep sessions fun and engaging. Something that games like tag do brilliantly. Ensure you set challenges to relate back to football and see if you can bring out a specific skill for example using a specific part of the foot or asking defenders to retain the ball as opposed to kicking it out which relates to the game. 

Also, have included a link below just showing different example of games you can use:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LATZLJ2NiAA

Keep up the good work and keep challenging your players to stay on the ball!

Any questions let me know.

Thanks, Will

Great question Cameron, and great feedback and ideas. Sounds like your doing a great job. If the boys and girls have a ball and are playing fun and engaging games/practices they are developing their ball mastery all the time

Thank you for commenting, Will. I've used an adapted version of the Sam Griffiths session you have linked a few times this season already and it always sticks out to me how positive her coaching is.

I've heard people mention staying on the ball before. Do you mind explaining what it means and how I can challenge my players to do it? Do I need to put certain conditions on matches to encourage this behaviour? My key message with the team this season has been about staying calm on the ball and keeping it until they see an option to pass to

How small would you keep the teams during the SSGs during training? The players add you would expect like to play a big match (max 5 aside) at the end of training but I always find that the more confident players dominate and some of the others get lost in the match