Hi Samantha, trying to integrate less experienced players with a group who all ready play is always a difficult challenge, but not impossible. Steve has given some good points and certainly look at your team as: you, your fellow coach, the parents and the players, to isolate any one of these from the others just makes the job difficult. Be patient with your new players, use your coaching knowledge to create games / sessions that will support their learning, buddy them up with an experienced player when working in pairs. Remember all they lack is experience and of course throwing them in at the deep end before they are ready could cause issues. But with your support and a clear understanding that mistakes are just learning opportunities and part of the normal learning process they will, I'm sure, soon catch up. Encourage them to practice away from the club as you probably only see them for an hour, so its what they do in their own time that will really make an impact on them as a player. Let them experience different positions, as no matter what their starting pos is, it's very likely they will find themselves in multiple areas, so knowing what to do when they are in the box, playing wide or defending is key to them progressing. Be patient and i'm sure they will integrate in with their more experienced team mates and catch up with them. Good luck and enjoy the challenges they give you, they will make you a better coach. Phil

Hi Phil

They haven't just been integrated, these children have been training and playing since they were 5, everything you have mentioned takes place already. It good to hear im doing all the right things..thank you...Samo

Hi Sam, All players are at their own point in their learning journey, some will be close to others , and some far apart.  The practice spectrum still applies with acquiring new techniques the need for repetition at the low end gradually building to more choice and game related experience as they move up the spectrum into free play. The differentiation that coaches have to apply in all of their sessions is part of your coach armoury - get it and wrong make it too easy, players lose engagement, make it too hard- players lose engagement. You are asking all the right questions so keep doing that - all the stuff you have learnt comes into play- reflect on each session and how it engaged players look at what works for individual players - they all have their own learning preference - use this to your advantage. Some players mature earlier, some do not even show until they have gone through puberty, when all of a sudden they are bigger, faster, become confident and start to use all of the stuff you have been showing. I've yet to see the best player in group at u11 be the best player at u16.  There have been some great ideas given to you in the replies to your question and I don't want to add to the mass of information, other than I have found that in the game at the end of my session, to help players connect with the sessions learning outcome, I still try to create the link by rewarding the activity we have been practising, i.e., if  it is passing,if you score in the game the number of passes becomes the goals so 5 passes and score becomes 5 goals. If you've worked on control -In the game - receiving the ball using the technique practised and then successfully moving it to another team mate = 1 goal (a normal goal could then become 2 or 3) . Linked to this my team talk for the game that week would be on what we learned in training and putting that into practice in the game they are about to play - give out individual challenges, unit (def mid, att) and team challenges ( in possession and out of possession) so that they focus on how their learning fits into the game. This world for individuals who are maybe giving you concern - so give them one thing to master. If its control it may be as simple as " try to be available for the ball when your team has it" or more specific 'when receiving the ball, try to see as much of the pitch as you can' (encouraging the player to have an open body position when receiving and an awareness of the space around hime/her. Most of all keep at at, be patient team coaching is, for most of us, a marathon not a sprint. If we want good players at 16 we may have to put up with a lot of mistakes (learning opportunities) in early years before they get there, 

Hi Sam, All players are at their own point in their learning journey, some will be close to others , and some far apart.  The practice spectrum still applies with acquiring new techniques the need for repetition at the low end gradually building to more choice and game related experience as they move up the spectrum into free play. The differentiation that coaches have to apply in all of their sessions is part of your coach armoury - get it and wrong make it too easy, players lose engagement, make it too hard- players lose engagement. You are asking all the right questions so keep doing that - all the stuff you have learnt comes into play- reflect on each session and how it engaged players look at what works for individual players - they all have their own learning preference - use this to your advantage. Some players mature earlier, some do not even show until they have gone through puberty, when all of a sudden they are bigger, faster, become confident and start to use all of the stuff you have been showing. I've yet to see the best player in group at u11 be the best player at u16.  There have been some great ideas given to you in the replies to your question and I don't want to add to the mass of information, other than I have found that in the game at the end of my session, to help players connect with the sessions learning outcome, I still try to create the link by rewarding the activity we have been practising, i.e., if  it is passing,if you score in the game the number of passes becomes the goals so 5 passes and score becomes 5 goals. If you've worked on control -In the game - receiving the ball using the technique practised and then successfully moving it to another team mate = 1 goal (a normal goal could then become 2 or 3) . Linked to this my team talk for the game that week would be on what we learned in training and putting that into practice in the game they are about to play - give out individual challenges, unit (def mid, att) and team challenges ( in possession and out of possession) so that they focus on how their learning fits into the game. This world for individuals who are maybe giving you concern - so give them one thing to master. If its control it may be as simple as " try to be available for the ball when your team has it" or more specific 'when receiving the ball, try to see as much of the pitch as you can' (encouraging the player to have an open body position when receiving and an awareness of the space around hime/her. Most of all keep at at, be patient team coaching is, for most of us, a marathon not a sprint. If we want good players at 16 we may have to put up with a lot of mistakes (learning opportunities) in early years before they get there,