I’m an U13’s coach and find myself at a bit of a crossroads…

This is my 4th season coaching and our team has really developed over the last 4 years. I have some great kids and the progress they have made has been amazing. At U10's we started as a team who had barely kicked a ball before and, from the bottom Division we have been promoted 4 divisions and won a couple of tournaments along the way. During this time we have picked up some better players and this has in turn really helped the group. We carry 15 players for 11 a-side.

Our philosophy has always been sharing game time, and as a minimum every player plays at least half a game, every match. Some times all in 1 spell and at others they may take 2 tuns on the sidelines but still get in at least 35 minutes.

As we continue our progression, our players are developing and the team gets better, we are challenging ourselves against better teams and better players. The kids are getting older, and the results really matter to them. 

This is where I’m starting to struggle and know the right things to do.

Some of our players are being left behind as they haven’t developed as much as others, and when we play better teams and want to remain competitive, making changes to give equal game time makes us weaker and as a team. As the kids are now 12/13 and we are moving to U14 i'm noticing this is causing friction in the group as they want to win and it now matters more to them.

I have some players who want to play in a certain position, but I feel they aren’t strong enough or have the right attributes for that position. We will keep working with them however the crossroads I’m at is:

• Do I carry on with our philosophy and give equal game time, some times at the detriment to the team and our progression? The worry I have may mean we lose some of our better players next year?
• Do I have a conversation to tell them I need them to improve in certain areas for them to stay in those positions and keep their game time up? Then give game time purely based on effort and performance in equal measure
• Do I move them into other roles, but as we have an abundance of players in those roles their game time will suffer and tell them they have to fight for their positions?

Any advice is appreciated as feel I need to make some decisions to keep the team progressing and unsure the right way for both my individual players and the team.