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Coaching u10 side advice

Daniel Hoy

Hi All 

I have been coaching a side for roughly a year and its been a challenge, mostly with the mixed ability's, parents and my own expectations. i love it but im struggling to also find the balance of fair and firm and also probably my own expecations. the team as come along a lot but some due to different levels have not. this is where the balance comes in. ive been fair all season equal mins 99% of the time and this has worked some times but others not so much. we have lost close games due to me taking better lads off for lesser abilities, this is fine as its kids football however the lads who come off are getting annoyed and disheartened as they are winners and give there all and in most cases are seeing lads come on who arent as bothered dont put in as much effort and tend to hide from the ball or not run. i am worried the lads who put the effort it will look elsewhere. its the fair vs effort scenario. i am swaying to give more mins to anyone who at least gives me 100% effort i tell the boys effort is most important not skill and most get it. i know this wont be new but looking for advice on this. we have a good group all lads get on which is fantastic but i want to boys to progress also as most of the lads do too. we will be 9 a side next year and i will need a bigger squad too so i want to get the boys really firing this year. to finish im not hyper competitive i love coaching the boys and love seeing them grow i just dont want the group split that ive worked so gelling. maybe my expectations are part of the issue too. 

Parents

  • I must admit I struggle with the fair vs winning side of coaching. I coach a new team which will be going into U9s and there is a range of abilities of course. The challenge is that although the FA encourages fun and game time, I am yet to meet another team or coach that isn't trying to win the match. 

    I like having two matches each week, a competitive game you try to win and a development game where you can offer more game time and rotation to players that aren't as far along in their development. 

    I would recommend doing a poll of your parents to understand if they would prefer to win or achieve perfect game time balance. 

    I think you can achieve a balance, but if you are finding that close matches are being lost because you are forced to rotate to achieve the game time quota then I can see why that would be frustrating for the other players. It probably isn't much fun for the player being brought on either as they will feel responsible for the loss. 

    Again, I would poll your parents and see if they prioritise winning or game time for their child.  

    If you are able to have a development match as well, it would open up more opportunities for game time to those players that are struggling a bit. 

    Hope that helps. 


  • in reply to James Lewis

    Thanks James and its good to know im not the only one. we only have 1 hour training a week and then a match 50 mins long at weekends to its hard to find another day for another game. i will speak to parents however i feel it will be they want to win as long as it doesnt effect there own kids playing time.....

  • in reply to Daniel Hoy

    Very difficult to keep everyone happy with one game a week. The other option I've seen coaches doing is to limit the match day squad to only having 1 sub which makes it easier to give game time to those on the day, but then you have players that aren't able to play at all one week. 

    Not sure there's an answer that will please everyone. Maybe see if the parents would agree to extra friendly matches or an additional training session.  But that may not be possible depending on your availability mind. 

  • in reply to James Lewis

    Its not so much the playing time its winning vs equal playing time really. as i wrote i have lads who put it in 1000% but some who dont but there parents want same mins. the winners will eventually look elsewhere i believe. tough one

  • in reply to Daniel Hoy

    I think most people would understand if you are 1-0 up and there's a few minutes to go that you might not want to make substitutions. 


  • in reply to James Lewis

    thanks guys really appreciate the feedback. we are in a summer league at the moment against mixed abilities we took a big beating sunday and some kids took it bad. i try to be as positive as i can but i also feel for the lads i took off which possibly make the score worse. such a difficult task to balance abilities but also ambitions of players who differ too

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  • in reply to James Lewis

    thanks guys really appreciate the feedback. we are in a summer league at the moment against mixed abilities we took a big beating sunday and some kids took it bad. i try to be as positive as i can but i also feel for the lads i took off which possibly make the score worse. such a difficult task to balance abilities but also ambitions of players who differ too

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