Hi everyone 

So as probably tell am new on here. 
am looking starting my badges as I love football. Also been told for years I have lot to teach kids. Due to my knowledge of game plus most importantly kids seem to respect and listen to me. 

so after years of hearing this I finally got the courage to do it for myself instead of pressured into this. 

how do I start ? Is it worth the effort?

Thanks I’m advance 

Graeme 

Hi Michelle, I think the key here is to give them all an opportunity to experience different positions. There is a great article here that may help - https://learn.englandfootball.com/articles/resources/2023/Why-your-players-should-try-different-positions 

What assessment are you worried about?

Great to hear Graeme, and welcome! A great place to start would be the playmaker course which is free and takes 4-5 hours to complete  - https://learn.englandfootball.com/courses/football/ee-playmaker Hope this helps!

Hi Michelle

My honest opinion is not to worry too much about positions at that age group, You may give some simple pointers but the focus should be what they do on the ball (dribbling, etc). This for me should be the focus at the age group.

Kind Regards

Shadab

Hi I wouldn't worry about positions to much ATM at this age I started playing mine in positions at u12 in preparation for competitive football at u13. Some will naturally gravitate to positions but rotation is also very important and its best that the players and parents understand your approach to this too. Reference to scoring goals I always like to let it known I encourage all players to play and express themselves and try and score in any position Defenders etc

I always say my best first defender should be my attacker and my first attacker is my GK.

Hi Michelle,

Some great tips here already and I would echo these. At this age it's about exploration as much as anything - you'll be amazed at how a 10 year old will refuse to play in goal then one day out of the blue decide they want to be the next Jordan Pickford!

It is tough when you get players that don't want to play certain positions - a greta way to deal with this is to plan out your games ahead of time, rotating positions each week. Share this with your players too (in the training session before the game works great) and give them challenges in the game that are relevant to where they are playing that week. This will keep up engagement and help them learn all areas of the pitch which is huge for their linger term development too.

Let us know how you get on!!

️