Kids Grassroots Football - The good stuff!
Discussion
My lads had their first game in 6 weeks yesterday, I expected them to be rusty but it seems regular training and Futsal games have paid off, we won 5-2, going 4-0 up by half time. I was a little disappointed not to win the second half, but I made changes and swapped players around at half time severely weakening the team so have to take responsibility for it.
I've been looking into the Midlands Nerf league with a view to getting my lad into a team to play on Saturdays to aid his development. Does anyone have any experience of this?
I've been looking into the Midlands Nerf league with a view to getting my lad into a team to play on Saturdays to aid his development. Does anyone have any experience of this?
Hi Wildcards
I don't know what age your lads are, and the age has a big impact on the football.
Under the current FA scheme (and it does vary according to regional FA diktats)
U7's and U8's five a side development
U9's and 10's seven a side development
Now 10's and 11's and 12's are 9 a side - 10's is still development - so our first competitive leagues are at Under 11's
U13's upwards are 11 a side - full size pitches.
I think they will move up again in a year or two and not play any "competitive" leagues until 13. They obviously still have cup fixtures etc as full competitive.
Leagues are good for variety and save a lot of individual organisation, but they are a grind. You have to play and you have to be organised and follow all the league rules and FA approved refs.
The football varies. My club are in a really big league North East Hampshire, this is five or six divisions deep at every age group and around 1300 teams across Saturday and Sunday and age groups and Leagues. So finding the right level of matches for your team development is pretty easy.
Avoid small leagues with only 5 or 6 teams - you don't get the variety, the clubs all learn to hate each other and there aren't many "close" competitive matches - you either win easy or get a hiding 80% of the time !
Overall though, we love our league matches even though we don't even know who is top middle or bottom of the league.
I don't know what age your lads are, and the age has a big impact on the football.
Under the current FA scheme (and it does vary according to regional FA diktats)
U7's and U8's five a side development
U9's and 10's seven a side development
Now 10's and 11's and 12's are 9 a side - 10's is still development - so our first competitive leagues are at Under 11's
U13's upwards are 11 a side - full size pitches.
I think they will move up again in a year or two and not play any "competitive" leagues until 13. They obviously still have cup fixtures etc as full competitive.
Leagues are good for variety and save a lot of individual organisation, but they are a grind. You have to play and you have to be organised and follow all the league rules and FA approved refs.
The football varies. My club are in a really big league North East Hampshire, this is five or six divisions deep at every age group and around 1300 teams across Saturday and Sunday and age groups and Leagues. So finding the right level of matches for your team development is pretty easy.
Avoid small leagues with only 5 or 6 teams - you don't get the variety, the clubs all learn to hate each other and there aren't many "close" competitive matches - you either win easy or get a hiding 80% of the time !
Overall though, we love our league matches even though we don't even know who is top middle or bottom of the league.
My twopenneth. Been coaching since 2008, son got ill & couldn't play anymore so I took on a U7 team (i was doing the U6s for couple of seasons), currently U9s. We got to Div 1 as U8s, but expanding to 7v7 with new recruits we dropped to Div 3 to consolidate, now in Div 2. There are 71 teams in our year group, so Divisions are pretty equal, which is a good test.
I'm FA Level 2, Youth Award 2, taking #3 next month. As mentioned, YAM is the way to go - better even than Level 2. Make everything football related, few or no drills - get them to use their skills & tricks in the game, opposed, not unopposed.
When the title mentioned Good Stuff, for me that means seeing your coaching working, the players improving both on and off the ball. Winning doesn't matter, it's how they play and progress. We've lost games by a goal and I've been far happier than if we'd trounced someone. I don't allow long balls, no GK drop kicks - play from the back, pass or dribble, use their tricks, be confident, no booting the ball away or into touch.
To me, football is 50% ball control, 50% brains - i don't tell the kids what to do, certainly not during a match, just guide them as make them think about what they are doing, why they are doing it, and what they could do better. Learning from mistakes means they must be allowed to make mistakes, then they must think about what went wrong, and do better next time - the coach should step in if learning isn't taking place, or they need some new ideas.
There is a place for discipline, and i will tell them they are playing rubbish if they are - they usually know anyway - followed by the positives and suggestions for improvement. I don't shout, i don't show anger, we are a team and we have to grow together - i call them Easy Company (from the Band of Brothers series).
The good stuff? Players who couldn't kick a ball at 5, too scared to tackle, now with the confidence to win the ball & dribble while scanning for the pass. Combination play involving 4, 5 or 6 players, players taking on and skilling up 3 or 4 defenders and scoring, or setting up a chance, players calm and confident on the ball.
Winning? that's for the future, once ALL the kids are excellent players. Winning at all costs now? That cost is the future development of the kids. . .
I'm FA Level 2, Youth Award 2, taking #3 next month. As mentioned, YAM is the way to go - better even than Level 2. Make everything football related, few or no drills - get them to use their skills & tricks in the game, opposed, not unopposed.
When the title mentioned Good Stuff, for me that means seeing your coaching working, the players improving both on and off the ball. Winning doesn't matter, it's how they play and progress. We've lost games by a goal and I've been far happier than if we'd trounced someone. I don't allow long balls, no GK drop kicks - play from the back, pass or dribble, use their tricks, be confident, no booting the ball away or into touch.
To me, football is 50% ball control, 50% brains - i don't tell the kids what to do, certainly not during a match, just guide them as make them think about what they are doing, why they are doing it, and what they could do better. Learning from mistakes means they must be allowed to make mistakes, then they must think about what went wrong, and do better next time - the coach should step in if learning isn't taking place, or they need some new ideas.
There is a place for discipline, and i will tell them they are playing rubbish if they are - they usually know anyway - followed by the positives and suggestions for improvement. I don't shout, i don't show anger, we are a team and we have to grow together - i call them Easy Company (from the Band of Brothers series).
The good stuff? Players who couldn't kick a ball at 5, too scared to tackle, now with the confidence to win the ball & dribble while scanning for the pass. Combination play involving 4, 5 or 6 players, players taking on and skilling up 3 or 4 defenders and scoring, or setting up a chance, players calm and confident on the ball.
Winning? that's for the future, once ALL the kids are excellent players. Winning at all costs now? That cost is the future development of the kids. . .
This season winning has become important for the kids, we're at U12s and I've had roughly half of the team tell me now that they want fixed positions as they see that it will make us more competitive, to be fair they're right. I fully agree about development but realistically it's very unlikely you'll have a team of equal ability players at Grassroots level.
Gargamel, our leagues are similar but we're the last age group for competitive football in Leicestershire, this seasons U11s and below won't have league tables until they're U14s, all fixtures for them are 'non-competitive'.
Our current league has 10 divisions with 10/12 teams in each, we're currently in div 6 near the top, we're a team of school mates but naturally some of the lads are better than others, my son being one of them. He still wants to play on Sundays with his mates, but would like to test himself in a tougher Saturday league, the closest however are around Birmingham or in Nottingham.
Gargamel, our leagues are similar but we're the last age group for competitive football in Leicestershire, this seasons U11s and below won't have league tables until they're U14s, all fixtures for them are 'non-competitive'.
Our current league has 10 divisions with 10/12 teams in each, we're currently in div 6 near the top, we're a team of school mates but naturally some of the lads are better than others, my son being one of them. He still wants to play on Sundays with his mates, but would like to test himself in a tougher Saturday league, the closest however are around Birmingham or in Nottingham.
Today we played bottom of the league, they've not won a game all season, despite, in my opinion not being a half bad team. My main concern was that my lads wouldn't take it seriously and bad habits would make for a poor performance. This was partly true.
We didn't play badly, but we still won by 9 goals. I tried to mitigate this by rotating positions, altering formations and setting challenges during the game once it was clear we were going to win, it helped in so much as we 'only' won by 9 goals, it could have been a lot more. I had 10 players at the match and 8 of them scored today.
Everyone one of my lads agreed at the end during our debrief that it was a boring game, I struggled to find any positive learning outcomes for us or the opposition and found myself apologising to their manager for such a drumming.
I hate this feeling, a wasted fixture, a pointless match, the kind of game infact where lads decide they no longer want to play football.
We didn't play badly, but we still won by 9 goals. I tried to mitigate this by rotating positions, altering formations and setting challenges during the game once it was clear we were going to win, it helped in so much as we 'only' won by 9 goals, it could have been a lot more. I had 10 players at the match and 8 of them scored today.
Everyone one of my lads agreed at the end during our debrief that it was a boring game, I struggled to find any positive learning outcomes for us or the opposition and found myself apologising to their manager for such a drumming.
I hate this feeling, a wasted fixture, a pointless match, the kind of game infact where lads decide they no longer want to play football.
Id take 9-0 all day long at my lads crap team,
last game was 12-0, 17 shots on target and the keeper made 5 saves in 80 mins,
all were pretty much at him as well,
The highlight was one shot pinging off the crossbar right up in the air,
our keeper with loads of time and nobody round him fumbled it out for a corner.
Everyone stands round and congratulates their mates lads for playing well then the other lads parents congratulate the other kids.
I stand round and think to myself it must be me, and they dont see it how i do.
That's what the last two years have been for us.
Anyway,
the decent team he signed on for a few weeks ago well they won 4-2 my lad set the run off for one of the goals,
played 25 mins and its the first time hes been on a competitive winning game in two seasons of footy.
there are three games in hand and could even win the league.
so it was a very happy household this weekend i don't mind telling you!
the plan is two keep him at both over the season and train with both over the summer.
when his feet are under the table and hes bedded in to cut the crap one loose.
strangely though they did seem to have a lot more time on the ball that his rubbish team do.
couldnt fathom out why that was.
last game was 12-0, 17 shots on target and the keeper made 5 saves in 80 mins,
all were pretty much at him as well,
The highlight was one shot pinging off the crossbar right up in the air,
our keeper with loads of time and nobody round him fumbled it out for a corner.
Everyone stands round and congratulates their mates lads for playing well then the other lads parents congratulate the other kids.
I stand round and think to myself it must be me, and they dont see it how i do.
That's what the last two years have been for us.
Anyway,
the decent team he signed on for a few weeks ago well they won 4-2 my lad set the run off for one of the goals,
played 25 mins and its the first time hes been on a competitive winning game in two seasons of footy.
there are three games in hand and could even win the league.
so it was a very happy household this weekend i don't mind telling you!
the plan is two keep him at both over the season and train with both over the summer.
when his feet are under the table and hes bedded in to cut the crap one loose.
strangely though they did seem to have a lot more time on the ball that his rubbish team do.
couldnt fathom out why that was.
I took our U15s for their first Futsal games on Saturday. We played two and lost two, not by a big margin but enough for the lads to realise they need to put more effort in, which i'm very pleased about. They need to realise training requires effort and commitment, not just turn up and have a jolly.
My U12s had an away game against a team who beat us earlier in the season, I spoke to the lads and they agreed that sticking to positions and working hard would mean a probable win rather than our usual modus operandi of rotating players through positions during a match regardless of run of play or result. It worked, we won comfortably and secured a higher position in the league for a week.
At what point do others stick players to positions each week?
My U12s had an away game against a team who beat us earlier in the season, I spoke to the lads and they agreed that sticking to positions and working hard would mean a probable win rather than our usual modus operandi of rotating players through positions during a match regardless of run of play or result. It worked, we won comfortably and secured a higher position in the league for a week.
At what point do others stick players to positions each week?
Crap team:
Weird one. 2-0 down at half time. Ended 8-0.
My lad didn't play second half, but it wasn't down to him coming off.
We just ran out of puff.
Was a good game tho, although one of ours is on crutches now lol.
We competed longer than we had done in a long while Against a team near the top
We hit the post within a couple of minutes, if it had gone in and we'd followed it up who knows where we would have been.
Good team:
He couldn't play for due to cup rules.
He needed to have played three games and he's only played two,
They got best 5-4
Should be interesting next week. Should be playing for both
Weird one. 2-0 down at half time. Ended 8-0.
My lad didn't play second half, but it wasn't down to him coming off.
We just ran out of puff.
Was a good game tho, although one of ours is on crutches now lol.
We competed longer than we had done in a long while Against a team near the top
We hit the post within a couple of minutes, if it had gone in and we'd followed it up who knows where we would have been.
Good team:
He couldn't play for due to cup rules.
He needed to have played three games and he's only played two,
They got best 5-4
Should be interesting next week. Should be playing for both
I'm expecting his not so good team to fold,
22-0 again at weekend, everyone looking at the ground,Round shoulders, their keeper plays out, scores, etc etc etc walking around, the usual scenario
I thought
One of ours even "high fived" one of theirs who scored!, Unbelievable
Its a shame because 18 kids aren't going to be playing football very soon, and probably wont sign on for another team.
We've already to forfeit the next game, and see how everyone feels at training, if enough want to carry on maybe it could be a new dawn, but if you asked me its had it now, time to wrap it up, and move on.
The good team he signed on for, they didn't have a game,
next week should be alot more easier on the eye for my lad hes playing the bottom placed team
22-0 again at weekend, everyone looking at the ground,Round shoulders, their keeper plays out, scores, etc etc etc walking around, the usual scenario
I thought
One of ours even "high fived" one of theirs who scored!, Unbelievable
Its a shame because 18 kids aren't going to be playing football very soon, and probably wont sign on for another team.
We've already to forfeit the next game, and see how everyone feels at training, if enough want to carry on maybe it could be a new dawn, but if you asked me its had it now, time to wrap it up, and move on.
The good team he signed on for, they didn't have a game,
next week should be alot more easier on the eye for my lad hes playing the bottom placed team
I've been in discussions with our local council about our pitch allocations for next year. A most frustrating endeavour!
Currently we book pitches for each of our teams on an annual basis, i've been asking for a more substantial contract allowing us more say in what happens to the ground and potentially giving us access to greater funding for building projects are larger scale improvements. The council are telling me they have to be seen to offer equal opportunities to all users.
There's us, a junior club with 250 kids across 16 teams, the majority of which come from the local area, then 3 adult teams with 16-18 teams in each. I really don't understand why they are being treated as equal to us.
Frustrating!
Currently we book pitches for each of our teams on an annual basis, i've been asking for a more substantial contract allowing us more say in what happens to the ground and potentially giving us access to greater funding for building projects are larger scale improvements. The council are telling me they have to be seen to offer equal opportunities to all users.
There's us, a junior club with 250 kids across 16 teams, the majority of which come from the local area, then 3 adult teams with 16-18 teams in each. I really don't understand why they are being treated as equal to us.
Frustrating!
Edited by WildCards on Friday 1st April 22:11
well just to update,
the hopeless team have let in 195 in 16 games and scored 4.
Because of the Easter hols, a lot of dropped off training, and i cant
see it carrying on next year.
We've not been to much as hes had training for his decent team,
The decent team are now third in their league,
last night they played the bottom team and won 6-2, so all is well with that one.
The plan is to try and keep him at both over the summer so he has some training twice a week. and then come the start of the season pull away from the bad one.
And play fully for the good one,
Although the pitch isnt as good,or the team spirit strangely, its so much better not dreading your weekends
the hopeless team have let in 195 in 16 games and scored 4.
Because of the Easter hols, a lot of dropped off training, and i cant
see it carrying on next year.
We've not been to much as hes had training for his decent team,
The decent team are now third in their league,
last night they played the bottom team and won 6-2, so all is well with that one.
The plan is to try and keep him at both over the summer so he has some training twice a week. and then come the start of the season pull away from the bad one.
And play fully for the good one,
Although the pitch isnt as good,or the team spirit strangely, its so much better not dreading your weekends
We've got 4 games left and have to get 2 points from them, to guarantee 2nd in the league.
The challenge being that the 4 games are against the toughest teams. If we win all 4, then we win the league, but that's unlikely, although we have the best defensive record in the league and Kinky Junior has the most clean sheets in the league.
Not bad for a team that were bottom of the division 2 years ago, with 0 wins. Then K junior joined half-way through last year.
We have 2 games this weekend, so will be crapping myself
The challenge being that the 4 games are against the toughest teams. If we win all 4, then we win the league, but that's unlikely, although we have the best defensive record in the league and Kinky Junior has the most clean sheets in the league.
Not bad for a team that were bottom of the division 2 years ago, with 0 wins. Then K junior joined half-way through last year.
We have 2 games this weekend, so will be crapping myself
He had two games at the same time yesterday
so he swerved the hopeless one, they got beat 14-1, although the parents seem to think it was a good game strangely,
their goal diff is now -204, which is a terrible shame for them, in the other league they only count the first six in terms of goal diff, which is a good idea in my opinion,
as you can imagine, the lads in that team are realyl fed up, two games left and im not convinced we will have enough for them
The good team, won 7-2, my lad had the game of his life, on the left midfield he was going through players laying balls off taking thrown ins, right up for it,
it was the best hes played, the oppo werent up to much and the pitch was small, i think that helped him, but it went along way to convince us wed made the right choice.
how did everyone else get on?
so he swerved the hopeless one, they got beat 14-1, although the parents seem to think it was a good game strangely,
their goal diff is now -204, which is a terrible shame for them, in the other league they only count the first six in terms of goal diff, which is a good idea in my opinion,
as you can imagine, the lads in that team are realyl fed up, two games left and im not convinced we will have enough for them
The good team, won 7-2, my lad had the game of his life, on the left midfield he was going through players laying balls off taking thrown ins, right up for it,
it was the best hes played, the oppo werent up to much and the pitch was small, i think that helped him, but it went along way to convince us wed made the right choice.
how did everyone else get on?
j4ckos mate said:
He had two games at the same time yesterday
so he swerved the hopeless one, they got beat 14-1, although the parents seem to think it was a good game strangely,
their goal diff is now -204, which is a terrible shame for them, in the other league they only count the first six in terms of goal diff, which is a good idea in my opinion,
as you can imagine, the lads in that team are realyl fed up, two games left and im not convinced we will have enough for them
The good team, won 7-2, my lad had the game of his life, on the left midfield he was going through players laying balls off taking thrown ins, right up for it,
it was the best hes played, the oppo werent up to much and the pitch was small, i think that helped him, but it went along way to convince us wed made the right choice.
how did everyone else get on?
The best part of making decisions in life is that moment later on when you realise you nailed it!! so he swerved the hopeless one, they got beat 14-1, although the parents seem to think it was a good game strangely,
their goal diff is now -204, which is a terrible shame for them, in the other league they only count the first six in terms of goal diff, which is a good idea in my opinion,
as you can imagine, the lads in that team are realyl fed up, two games left and im not convinced we will have enough for them
The good team, won 7-2, my lad had the game of his life, on the left midfield he was going through players laying balls off taking thrown ins, right up for it,
it was the best hes played, the oppo werent up to much and the pitch was small, i think that helped him, but it went along way to convince us wed made the right choice.
how did everyone else get on?
My under-15's finished last Wednesday night with a 4-2 win. That's 7th place in a division of eleven teams; last time we played at this level, we ended up with 4 points from 22 games, this season has seen a return of 25 points from 20 games.
Looking forward to next year as our A team ( the team my lads were let go from) have been relegated so we will be in the same division next season.
Well, we're down to our last game of the season on Saturday, with a 'winner takes all' fixture.
We are currently top of the table, 2 points ahead of 2nd place. We've played 19, won 15, drawn 3, lost 1. Scored 67, conceeded 25.
This is a team, who, up to last season were the whipping boys of the league, and each year ended up bottom with a >-100 goal difference, and almost totally folded last season.
Sadly I can't see us winning on Saturday, as much as I would truly love it. The opposition are a very strong, physical and skillful team, and have scored more than twice what we've scored.
If you'd said at the start of the season that we could finish 2nd, we'd absolutely snap your arm off! This is basically a bunch of schoolmates who've been together for years. We joined half-way through last season.
As for Kinky Junior himself, he's got 4 clean sheets from 15 games, scored 2 goals and 2 assists! This is from a goalkeeper (does not play outfield). He's only conceeded 20 goals and has not played a game where they've lost
I'm so so chuffed for him
We are currently top of the table, 2 points ahead of 2nd place. We've played 19, won 15, drawn 3, lost 1. Scored 67, conceeded 25.
This is a team, who, up to last season were the whipping boys of the league, and each year ended up bottom with a >-100 goal difference, and almost totally folded last season.
Sadly I can't see us winning on Saturday, as much as I would truly love it. The opposition are a very strong, physical and skillful team, and have scored more than twice what we've scored.
If you'd said at the start of the season that we could finish 2nd, we'd absolutely snap your arm off! This is basically a bunch of schoolmates who've been together for years. We joined half-way through last season.
As for Kinky Junior himself, he's got 4 clean sheets from 15 games, scored 2 goals and 2 assists! This is from a goalkeeper (does not play outfield). He's only conceeded 20 goals and has not played a game where they've lost
I'm so so chuffed for him Gassing Station | Football | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff