Effectively introducing and developing young players within match play (5-10 years)
Player with a ball and our 5 key benefits of playing with F2M
Unfortunately, we see too many coaching sessions for young children (even as young as 5) where the coach puts the group of 15 children straight into one big match with teams of 8v7 for up to 20 minutes. Ultimately, it is certain that at least 1 or 2 children will hardly, if at all, even touch the ball throughout the entire match. Meaning potentially up to 1/3 of the whole session without a single touch of the ball and their individual ball contact and active learning time will be extremely low, increasing the chances of a loss in concentration and motivation.
That’s why all activities that we deliver, including match play, are based around our key coaching principles and challenges, which have a big focus on lots of active movement time and individual ball contact. Football is a team sport and ultimately, a football match is only played with one ball, so it is important (at the right time and in the right way) to introduce the concept of teams, teamwork and understanding what to do when on and off the ball. However, we have come up with 5 key areas of consideration (combined with the music) that we ensure are consistent within every session and match play we deliver. We have mastered a way of introducing and delivering football matches that teaches these key elements of football, keeps everyone active and engaged, and supports mixed abilities and individual development.
2v1 mini match play
1. Creating the right environment
Our team are focused on creating a truly enjoyable and pressure free environment that helps with improving the children’s confidence, removes the importance of competition and winning and allows the children to measure success in different ways. The rhythm and beats of the music add energy to the match play, acting as a motivational tool that naturally increases the players work rate. Check out our top 10 benefits of music within sports sessions for more information on that. The coaches always highlight examples of good match play and when the children demonstrate improvements of the topic they have been working on throughout the session, providing positive reinforcement and further advancing each child’s experience.
2. Starting with SSG’s (Small-sided games)
We introduce match play by starting with SSG’s, often through 2 smaller matches playing side by side at the same time (other formats are possible based on the space available). SSG’s are fundamental to our programme and are delivered within every session, as it provides the children with the opportunity to experience match play moments and scenarios and develop spacial awareness. Even with small groups of 6-8 players, we will start with multiple smaller formats of 1v1, 2v1 or 2v2, then progressing into larger matches of 3v3 or 4v4. We stick to a maximum of 4v4 games and keep 2 matches playing at the same time throughout, as we believe that anything bigger than this will lose the focus of individual ball contact and some children will possibly lose concentration and become less engaged. This type of approach to match play will improve players in all areas of the FA’s 4-corner module.
3. Keeping the ball on the floor
At all times throughout the match, we encourage the children to keep the ball on the floor and to keep everything low. Goalkeepers restart with the ball on the floor and they pass or dribble out, or only rolling the ball underarm, no kicking the ball far from their hands. Throw-in’s are replaced with kick in’s or dribble in’s (see section below for more details) and children are encouraged to control the ball before shooting, to reduce the number of shots going high and to improve ball control. Keeping the ball on the floor and under control is from the influence of Futsal on our programme.
4. Provide time and space to practice and to allow decision making
To encourage the children to keep the ball on the floor, to not panic and lose confidence when they have the ball and to provide opportunities to practice, we add certain decisions and boundaries. The opposition must be behind the half way line when their is a goal kick and the goalkeeper has the option to pass or dribble into play. The children can then cross the half way line once the goalkeeper has made their decision. When the ball goes out for a kick-in, again the children have the choice of dribbling into play or passing to a team mate. These opportunities for decision making allow for creativity and freedom to express, as well as building confidence. However, as we play indoor football, we often remove the restriction of the sidelines and allow rebounds off the wall to maintain the speed and energy of the match, reducing the number of breaks of play and maintaining engagement. Adding these decisions and boundaries to allow space and time is a great way of including those children who perhaps will not go and get the ball themselves, the chance to practice and build confidence at their own pace.
5. Rotating players and goalkeepers
If you leave the children to completely manage this element, you will find that one player never goes in goal and one player stays in goal throughout, which means that one players active movement time overall will be low. Therefore, it is the coaches responsibilities to observe this and to get teams to rotate goalkeepers throughout the match, encouraging fairness and teamwork. Also, we want the children to experience different positions and areas of the pitch, which will give them more opportunities to try different things. Adding the decision of passing or dribbling into play makes the position of goalkeeper more attractive to those who usually try to avoid it, plus it’s a great time to introduce the basics of transitions and player responsibility. Rotating players and teams around to play different opposition also provides the children with different challenges and helps keeps players engaged.
Group photo of children and coaches in Football 2 Music T-shirts.
If you would like your child to experience the way we effectively introduce and develop young players within match play, please feel free to book in your child for a free trial session on our Saturday development programme. You can also book in for our February 2025 half term activities, just for 1 or 2 days or the whole week, the flexibility is yours. Early drop off and late pick up is also available.
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