Thanks David, good question. there may be some articles/ sessions on our website that could help. Check it out here - https://learn.englandfootball.com/articles. Re the second part I think it is important to include all players. Vinny Halsall Sharon Muxworthy Will Fordham - Coach Developer any thoughts on this please?

Hi David,

I thought I'd share my thoughts on 'match days', as it's a question I've discussed with the coaches at my own club, and I've also had a look at what other clubs are doing.

In short - it depends on what stage your age group is at. U9-U11 is considered development and beyond that it's competitive. When they're at development level, the priority is developing your players, not winning games, and the only way they'll develop is by time on the pitch.

Every team I've encountered at the development stage has had a policy of equal playing time, down to the minute - and yes, that can mean losing a game from a winning position. From speaking to other coaches, it's clear that kids in this age group develop at different rates, so all we can do is give them equal opportunity to develop.

Beyond that, when you move into the older age groups, the focus moves towards competing and winning games. This is the time to maybe  start being selective with your match day squads, but as long as there is transparency with players/parents, there shouldn't be any issues. What I would say is that, you want to ideally give your subs some playing time, otherwise where's the motivation to turn up? - so perhaps it would be better to be tactical about how you involve "weaker" players - perhaps involve them a little earlier, in a more balanced team, and finish with a strong strong team?

Anyway, hope this helps.

Good luck

With regard the matchday side of things - My initial thought on this when I first started coaching was that there should always be equal game time for players regardless of ability and that the most important thing is the ability to participate. However I read a really interesting piece about it that a club local to me had put together which detailed their own thoughts on the matter, and it brought up some points that I hadn’t previously considered.

I’m paraphrasing in part here but they brought up certain reasons why a player may not be progressing at the rate you might expect them to, and the effect that this can have on other players in the team. Obviously at primary school age level there could be a million and one factors as to why players were at different levels, but where you talk about a general concept of “fairness”, you have to consider how committed the player is. Do they turn up every week? Does they try their best every week? Do they listen to their coaches? Etc etc. 

The idea being that, there’s a fine balance between being “fair” to lower ability players, but also maintaining fairness to higher ability player within the same set up, who may be higher level because they are more committed, try harder, etc etc. 

Basically, it’s not just as simple as being fair by giving equal playing time to everyone regardless of any context.

The piece went on to say that in the longer term, there were some negative effects stemming from trying to cater to everyone, in that the lower level/ less committed players are more likely to drop out of the game anyway, and this can affect the higher level players who have been “sacrificed” (probably not the right word to use but you get my point) in order to accommodate them.

The solution for the team in question was to separate their players early on, into levels based on commitment and ability. It was along the lines of low level low commitment, mid level low commitment, midlevel high commitment, high level high commitment. An each player was categorised reasonably early on in their development enabling players to play at a suitable level within the club and with likeminded and similar ability players.

Obviously that solution may not be possible at all clubs. 

I’m definitely of the mindset, especially at lower age groups, that participation takes priority over winning etc. 

but the above is something I thought was worth considering 

Thanks all. Some great points to consider. 
I coach U14’s so now at the point where winning (games are competitive) is an important part of the game. I want all the girls to have fun and enjoy their football, but also want the hard work put in by the team not to be “lost” in the last 10 minutes for fairness of game time… tricky one!

But some good points raised in the answers. Thanks all