I too am in a similar situation.

We are a newly formed U9 team with a 10 player squad.

None of them have played competitively before.

Two of which are U8 playing up a year as their ability is on parr with the other 7.

One of my players in particular is nowhere near the level of the rest.

Firstly neither myself or Assistant Coach will or want to give up on him. Importantly his parents are fully aware of the difference in ability and recognise what myself and Assistant Coach see. They take him to our academy session once a week, a separate academy which I coach at also, and our team training session.

He attends every session with a smile on his face without fail every week, his parents are understanding, kind and great people.

As my Assistant Coach is friends with his parents, the three of us have taken our sons to the park and had a fun but structured mini session to try and advance his skills. Even after all of this he has improved, but so have all of the other players, so there is still gulf in ability.

You will receive advice from different people both experienced and in-experienced. We have been told by more experienced coaches that the other lads will eventually turn on him if he continuously gives the ball away or or doesn`t pull his weight. If our team are winning and he is introduced to the field and we end up losing because of him, the other players and parents will potentially turn on him and things may get toxic, forcing him to stop enjoying his football and him wanting to leave the team.

I`ve been told that some kids just aren`t meant for football, no matter how much coaching they receive. I don`t believe in this.

It is down to myself, Assisant Coach and his parents to come to an inclusive solution to make the best of the situation to prevent anything like that happening.

Against another academy coaches experienced opinion and judgement we have still registered him and he is our player. 

We played our first ever friendly yesterday and won 5-0. One of the players was on holiday so we had 9 available and made double subs every 5 mins. As a rule we paired our lower ability player with what can be best described as a box to box player, so that they were on the pitch at the same time at all times. This took the pressure off the lower ability player who did get involved and tried his best which is all you can ask. Some may say he is being carried, and to an extent he is. But none of the other players noticed, especially his box to box pairing who naturally loves to drop back to help in defence / midfield, and also joins the attack.

We will be speaking to his parents to hopefully agree a plan. We will look to build up his minutes in matches once the season starts when he demonstrates an improvement consistenly without anyone other than his team mates advising him on the pitch. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible, without him feeling left out, at the same time avoiding a toxic situation forming from one of my earlier points.

We will continue to work with him and hopefully he will become autonomous.

Good luck!

I too am in a similar situation.

We are a newly formed U9 team with a 10 player squad.

None of them have played competitively before.

Two of which are U8 playing up a year as their ability is on parr with the other 7.

One of my players in particular is nowhere near the level of the rest.

Firstly neither myself or Assistant Coach will or want to give up on him. Importantly his parents are fully aware of the difference in ability and recognise what myself and Assistant Coach see. They take him to our academy session once a week, a separate academy which I coach at also, and our team training session.

He attends every session with a smile on his face without fail every week, his parents are understanding, kind and great people.

As my Assistant Coach is friends with his parents, the three of us have taken our sons to the park and had a fun but structured mini session to try and advance his skills. Even after all of this he has improved, but so have all of the other players, so there is still gulf in ability.

You will receive advice from different people both experienced and in-experienced. We have been told by more experienced coaches that the other lads will eventually turn on him if he continuously gives the ball away or or doesn`t pull his weight. If our team are winning and he is introduced to the field and we end up losing because of him, the other players and parents will potentially turn on him and things may get toxic, forcing him to stop enjoying his football and him wanting to leave the team.

I`ve been told that some kids just aren`t meant for football, no matter how much coaching they receive. I don`t believe in this.

It is down to myself, Assisant Coach and his parents to come to an inclusive solution to make the best of the situation to prevent anything like that happening.

Against another academy coaches experienced opinion and judgement we have still registered him and he is our player. 

We played our first ever friendly yesterday and won 5-0. One of the players was on holiday so we had 9 available and made double subs every 5 mins. As a rule we paired our lower ability player with what can be best described as a box to box player, so that they were on the pitch at the same time at all times. This took the pressure off the lower ability player who did get involved and tried his best which is all you can ask. Some may say he is being carried, and to an extent he is. But none of the other players noticed, especially his box to box pairing who naturally loves to drop back to help in defence / midfield, and also joins the attack.

We will be speaking to his parents to hopefully agree a plan. We will look to build up his minutes in matches once the season starts when he demonstrates an improvement consistenly without anyone other than his team mates advising him on the pitch. We are trying to be as inclusive as possible, without him feeling left out, at the same time avoiding a toxic situation forming from one of my earlier points.

We will continue to work with him and hopefully he will become autonomous.

Good luck!