Coaches - given a 35-week year with a group of raw U9 players, what would you work on developing?
Let's assume that they would practice roughly 70 times in this period, and play a total of 40 games as a team.
Go.
I've been coaching in the US since 93 and currently coach my sons U9 team. They play in the top division out of 6 divisions and can compete with every team in the city. I've coached many of the kids since they were 3 years old. I give you this background only so you can place it into context of what i coach them.
I hold two practices a week of 1 hr and 15 mins per session. Every Wednesday we will do the same practice from Aug-the end of Oct. This is the curriculum.
1) For those that arrive early i let them play knock out, Shoot on goal then go in goal, if you miss the shot and save your out.
2) 5 minutes of juggling.
3) 15 minutes of skill work. I've worked on the Mathews, scissors, step over, Puskas, Cruff and in my opinion the must have skill of the inside and outside foot cut.
4) 10 - 15 minutes of simple no pressure control and passing. Two players controlling the ball into space then passing, three players in triangle playing the ball to the pivot player so he recycles the ball and works on controlling it into a passing position, wall passes with and without a cone, overlapping passes. This has been the progression.
5) 10 - 15 minutes passing with pressure, 4v1 or 6v2 with zones i.e. 4v2 in first zone once 5 passes are made play the ball to the next zone for 2v1. There are many variations of 6v2 with zone i.e 5 passes then pass to next zone for shot, 2 touch etc.
6) Small sided games. 2v2 or 3v3. I like 2v2 and add goal keepers and use a variety of conditions i.e must make a pass to your goal keeper before you can shoot, 2 touch, must touch all players before a shot.
And that is it every Wednesday for the whole season, keep it simple, repetitive, have a game every week and let them do some fun stuff (knock out juggling). Fridays i use the same frame work but i may add in set pieces and play a longer game. I do not play games with more than 3v3 as i want lots of touches on the ball, keep all the players engaged and at this age there is nothing the 3v3 game cannot teach other than the third man run which i do not teach at this age.
We lost our first game of the season last weekend to the best team in the city, we were 2-0 up after the first seven minutes but lost 9-5. I failed the boys as I could have done a better job of moving my players around and putting them in a better position to win but i got a little caught up in the game and did not sit back, chill out and take time to assess what was going wrong. It's my job during games to put the players in the best position for them to achieve their best, i believe this sometimes means moving an underperforming player into a different position instead of asking that player to "put more effort in". After many years of coaching i'm still learning.
Col have you developed your curriculum yet and can you share it?
