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Managing an Under 7s Team

Paul Whittenbury

Hi all

I fell into managing an Under 7s side a few months back. We had 6 players originally and I put some adverts out and managed to get us a squad of 10 - however we found upon trying to register them that 4 of them aren't 6 yet and can't be registered until their birthdays meaning we have 6 for our "league" games.

We've had 3 friendlies so far; all ending in defeat; and our first league game yesterday which also ended in a heavy 11-1 defeat.

I feel responsible that I may be letting them down, and I don't want them to lose demotivation as i've come into it primarily wanting to help them find their love of the game and that ability doesn't matter so much however when we play other teams and they are so much more dominant all I can see happening if it continues is my children losing their enjoyment and wanting to leave. Every game we've played the opposition always look so much bigger physically  than my children; it's like U8s vs U7s and yesterday it looked like the opposition CB was about a foot taller than my tallest player. We don't have a specialist goalkeeper so everyone is taking turns; we have a child who seems to have little to no attention on the game and only runs towards the ball if it is near him and we call for him to chase it.

It's really surprised me how organised and the levels of ability for the 4 teams we've played so far and I can't help but feel are we not doing enough for our children; or have we just been mega unlucky? I just assumed most teams would be more about the fair play and helping the kids of both teams enjoy their football but the competitive nature really is soul destroying. 

Does anyone have any advise to overcome this? Anything you feel I can be doing differently? I don't want to let the kids down or walk away from them and I don't intend to for a second I just want to make it as enjoyable for them even if we don't win any games.

Parents

  • Having just done my first U7s season, I'd say everything you're feeling is totally normal - most of us have been there.

    In terms of results, ignore them, they mean nothing. Whatever league you're in will aim to match teams of similar ability and as the season goes on, you should find yourselves playing in increasingly more competitive matches. Essentially the season gets better from October half-term onwards and should only improve opposition-wise.

    Do you use some sort of coaching platform, like the Coaching Manual? Different kids obviously develop at different levels but there are some great drills and even season plans to give you guidance as to what to coach the kids on.

    A couple of bits of advice would be 1) try and get a couple more players so that you can at least register 8 that can play in league matches (i.e. for power plays, kids away, etc) as otherwise you're going to end up struggling to field teams at periods of the season and 2) figure out some really simple patterns of play to coach the kids on alongside all the skills, ball mastery, etc. From memory, we worked for 10-15 mins each week on playing out from goal kicks initially and it made a huge difference to the kids confidence knowing their roles on a matchday rather than running round aimlessly.

    Good luck!!

  • in reply to Richard Evans

    Hi Richard, what is the Coaching Manual you mention here please? It sounds good! 

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