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Getting the right balance with under 6s

Craig Gill

Hi everyone,

I have just started with a group of around 12 to 15 under 6s.

We don’t play any competitive matches but just have a session every Saturday morning for an hour.

Third week in now and I’m struggling to find a balance. The older and more able/confident of the group just want to play a match which is fine. The newer, less confident or able kids get lost in the gameplay and often find it intimidating with the more able players. The younger ones actually prefer the more instructed practices we do rather than the open play.

The last thing I want to do is split them as we are still one team and I want them all to develop together as one.

I have game conditions in my head, perhaps a younger player is worth two goals rather than one if they score to encourage the older ones to involve them more into open play.

Has anyone else had this experience? Any suggestions on how to get the right balance?

Thank you

Parents
  • 0

    Hi, along with some other coaches we run U6 sessions and have about 25 players. We've found lots of the ideas from the play phase activities work really well for this age group https://learn.englandfootball.com/sessions?programme={C46DBFB9-4CE5-411C-9595-93B4A30CB58A} We run 2-3 of these kinds of activities and vary with/without a ball and other progression ideas to keep players interested. We run small sided matches for about 15 minutes of the 1 hour session. Mostly about 4-5 a side so everyone gets to touch the ball. We try and balance teams when setting it up, but sometimes switch a player, overload a team to challenge more able players or a coach might join in to support and get everyone involved.

    Alternatively, we warm up with games like stuck in the mud, space invaders or what's the time Mr Wolf then split the players into three and run three different carousel activities trying to offer a mixture of skill, technique and competition all with as much fun as possible. About 8-10 minutes an activity. Again we'll then do about 15 minutes of matches. We generally find that even the few players that are less comfortable in matches will join in all the other activities and have been slowly building their confidence in to do more in the matches. We still get some that will lose focus, need a break or just want to chat to their friend, but they are engaged in lots through other aspects of the session. The more able players that want to play matches all the time are getting it through little competitive games, challenges and mismatched small sided competition e.g. 2v1s, 3v2s etc. before they put it all into the matches.

    Good luck with it and keep us updated with anything you find working well!

Reply
  • 0

    Hi, along with some other coaches we run U6 sessions and have about 25 players. We've found lots of the ideas from the play phase activities work really well for this age group https://learn.englandfootball.com/sessions?programme={C46DBFB9-4CE5-411C-9595-93B4A30CB58A} We run 2-3 of these kinds of activities and vary with/without a ball and other progression ideas to keep players interested. We run small sided matches for about 15 minutes of the 1 hour session. Mostly about 4-5 a side so everyone gets to touch the ball. We try and balance teams when setting it up, but sometimes switch a player, overload a team to challenge more able players or a coach might join in to support and get everyone involved.

    Alternatively, we warm up with games like stuck in the mud, space invaders or what's the time Mr Wolf then split the players into three and run three different carousel activities trying to offer a mixture of skill, technique and competition all with as much fun as possible. About 8-10 minutes an activity. Again we'll then do about 15 minutes of matches. We generally find that even the few players that are less comfortable in matches will join in all the other activities and have been slowly building their confidence in to do more in the matches. We still get some that will lose focus, need a break or just want to chat to their friend, but they are engaged in lots through other aspects of the session. The more able players that want to play matches all the time are getting it through little competitive games, challenges and mismatched small sided competition e.g. 2v1s, 3v2s etc. before they put it all into the matches.

    Good luck with it and keep us updated with anything you find working well!

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