We have started 2 U8 teams at our club. This is the first season for all the players. We have 15 players in total. The Club Secretary has split the kids into 2 teams. We have 7 players who play football and are of good ability. The other 8 have never played in a team before and are of limited ability. The first 3 games the "A" team have won easily and the "B" team have lost., conceding over 20 goals. Now the kids at school are taking the P out of these kids saying how bad they are and that they cant play football. Its really getting to them. At training I have split the team up and do not allow the better players to play matches against my team. They played a match 3 weeks ago and lost 21-0. Now we train on our own and practice skills every week, concentrating on the basics. They all enjoy training but don't feel they are improving and don't look forward to the Saturday games against much better opposition.

I'm at a loss on how to motivate them. They all get disheartened as each goal goes in. We have only managed about 3 shots in all 3 games and are still to score a goal. Also 2 of the players suffer from ADHD and we have a very short attention span. T%his week 2 players have said they don't want to play as they know they will get beat again.

Any advice would be appreciated