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Under 12s Training Focus

Matthew Dehnel

Hi all - I've recently transitioned into coaching after several years of observing matches as a parent. My primary challenge revolves around finding the right balance between the structure and strictness of our training sessions.

We have a wonderful group of kids, and I want them to relish their time on the field while simultaneously instilling in them a desire to focus, learn, improve, and aim for winning matches (as we do lose most of ours). However, it's a bit frustrating when some of them view our sessions merely as a fun hour to kick around with friends. This is frustrating because all of them have the potential to get up to a good level and there are a few who possess remarkable talent that could shine even brighter with a bit more focus.

For instance, when we begin a session, they all eagerly rush towards the footballs, leading to debates about who should be the goalkeeper. By the time we manage to organise them, we've already consumed 10 minutes of our 60-minute training session.

Personally, I'd prefer to have their attention right from the start. Would something like the following approach be acceptable?

  • Keep the balls in the bag until we need them for a specific drill.
  • Assign a primary goalkeeper and a backup goalkeeper. Make it clear to those who argue about playing in goal that they should focus on their designated positions on the field. It's worth noting that our primary goalkeeper is exceptional and undergoes specialised goalkeeper training, making him significantly better in that role.

Another issue I face is how to deal with those who don't take the training drills seriously. For example, many players struggle with the basics of ball control and simple passing. I've simplified a training drill to emphasise working in pairs, passing the ball back and forth while ensuring a controlled touch before each pass. However, some players tend to get playful, attempting powerful shots at their partners or performing fancy moves like rabonas and flicks. Consequently, I decide to try a different drill that involves passing and control, but they struggle with more advanced exercises due to their inability to master the basics.

In summary, my goal is to have them enjoy the game and have fun, but I also want to coach them for improvement. It's challenging to strike the right balance, as I don't want them to view the sessions as mere playtime with friends, yet I'm also mindful of avoiding an overly authoritarian approach that might make them resent training. Your advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated!

Parents

  • The other thing to remember - they're 11 and 12. There is a lot going on in their lives and a fair few of them live on xbox/phones etc. So for some it may be the only chance to ping balls at each other, try tricks etc? One of the things I found really helpful with the FA courses was the re-inforcement that you might have a session plan in your head, but are you able to adapt the session based on what's happening on the day or do you stick with it regardless? Once we let go of the latter, it got easier. So perhaps find ways of bringing those behaviours into training - so start with a simple passing drill but let them try to control pinged balls for a few minutes at the end - it happens in games so may as well practise it in training too - and are the players that are doing the pinging able to control it when it comes back at them? If not, you can talk to them about match scenarios, the importance of weight of pass and how they found it to control the ball in that situation. The other thing on touch - in pairs, one throws it to the other to side foot it back to a catch - don't do it for long, but a good variation to work on control which you can develop into how many times can they go back and forwards in the pairs keeping the ball off the ground. 

    The other thing on control - we found the one thing that really improved our boys was a balance of drills and matches - so maybe do that passing drill and then immediately play a small sided game in a small space. We used to do a 1 hour astro session midweek and a grass session at weekends, all we did on the astro was 3 teams of 4/5 a side, no keepers, with a 2 minute game limit to rotate or until a goal was scored. The kids loved it, zero mucking about and all turned up on time, but more than that, the short sharp passing and control skills went through the roof. 

    We found it does get easier as they get older (I started with our group at U11 and they are now U15 - whole different set of challenges!). We also set some ground rules and occasionally when things were getting a little unruly we might at a water break talk to them, remind them of the club code of conduct and what we expect of them, and equally, if they go with it what we'll do back for them. It's a bit give and take at this age I found. 

Reply

  • The other thing to remember - they're 11 and 12. There is a lot going on in their lives and a fair few of them live on xbox/phones etc. So for some it may be the only chance to ping balls at each other, try tricks etc? One of the things I found really helpful with the FA courses was the re-inforcement that you might have a session plan in your head, but are you able to adapt the session based on what's happening on the day or do you stick with it regardless? Once we let go of the latter, it got easier. So perhaps find ways of bringing those behaviours into training - so start with a simple passing drill but let them try to control pinged balls for a few minutes at the end - it happens in games so may as well practise it in training too - and are the players that are doing the pinging able to control it when it comes back at them? If not, you can talk to them about match scenarios, the importance of weight of pass and how they found it to control the ball in that situation. The other thing on touch - in pairs, one throws it to the other to side foot it back to a catch - don't do it for long, but a good variation to work on control which you can develop into how many times can they go back and forwards in the pairs keeping the ball off the ground. 

    The other thing on control - we found the one thing that really improved our boys was a balance of drills and matches - so maybe do that passing drill and then immediately play a small sided game in a small space. We used to do a 1 hour astro session midweek and a grass session at weekends, all we did on the astro was 3 teams of 4/5 a side, no keepers, with a 2 minute game limit to rotate or until a goal was scored. The kids loved it, zero mucking about and all turned up on time, but more than that, the short sharp passing and control skills went through the roof. 

    We found it does get easier as they get older (I started with our group at U11 and they are now U15 - whole different set of challenges!). We also set some ground rules and occasionally when things were getting a little unruly we might at a water break talk to them, remind them of the club code of conduct and what we expect of them, and equally, if they go with it what we'll do back for them. It's a bit give and take at this age I found. 

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