Football: retaining the ball

Newer program, my kids for the majority play panic soccer, and just send the ball downfield. Any advice how to get them into a mindset of building the ball out and maintaining possession?

Team keep getting thrashed every week - where to start? Having been the sole coach/manager of a little league team for the past two years, this year I lost all my senior players. I was therefore presented with 10 brand new lads, some of whom have never played competitive football. We are 8 games in and my lads are getting thrashed every week. The main problems are that they cannot get the ball out of their half, positions are usually a mess, finishing and chance creation are non-existent, and they don't apply any pressure or are unable to tackle. The main problems are keeping the ball as a team, getting it in the opponents half and staying there, and creating/finishing chances. I only have 1 and a half hours a week with them. I don't really know what to do, and I'm a little desperate. Does anybody have any advice? Thanks for literally anything.

I am a coach with a U12 girls team, we are having difficulty keeping them in their zones...they all rush to where the ball is and the other team passes into the open area and then socre.

Hello, I am currently coaching an u9's boys team and a majority of them are well behaved and want to play football, but the odd 1or2 tend to mess around at training which distracts the others. I have sat them out in training and spoken to the parents but still this goes on. Do I decide to kick them out of the team altogether or does anyone know the miracle cure to stop this happening?

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Follow this series to challenge yourself or your players at home to learn these individual ball control skills. Got a different skill or have you mastered one of these? Let us know on the community and post it on this question feed!

Hi all, I've just started coaching a soccer team of 4 and 5 year olds and would like to discuss with my fellow coaches any drills which you have found to be safe, fun and valuable to the younger age group. I have my level 1 course under my belt and have difficulty in applying what I've learnt to the small kids. They get bored very quickly and are only interested in playing a match at the end of the session. They have no interest in passing the ball or shooting at goal whilst doing drills. Running with the ball is no problem as they are keeping active and all have a ball at their feet. As soon as they line up or have to share a ball, there are problems. I have a variety of drills which I run through with them, traffic lights, robin hood, alamo, sharks and fishes to name a few with variations of each but I crave more as everywhere I search caters for U6 upwards. I coach an U8 side midweek and have no problem with these lads as they are that bit older and have a greater level of concentration. (not by much mind). So I'm asking for advice from anyone who has coached 4 and 5 YOs and would like to know what has worked for you. PM replies welcome.  Marc

hi i coach a under 10's boys team.i am looking for help.unfortently we are not the best team around!all my player,s have not been playing long so we are a long way behind other teams we play i am trying to build conferdence on the ball at present they just wak it aways give up the balli am new to coaching and was wondering am i doing the right thing or should i be doing something else with them.

I coach a school girls 1st football team. In terms of having training intensity as we head into championship round, is there any drills or advice you can give me for ideas? I tell them to train during a drill like it's a game but think they need some other form to replicate an intense environment.

Im an assistant coach running a under 7 team. During play a few of the parents/family of the players keeping shouting out instructions Like tackle, clear it get back get up front etc. Even the manager I help and it seams to me some if the players get disstracted and confused to what they should do, it's come to the point a player seems to scared to do what he feels, just incase he does something wrong. How do I go about this? Asked using Sportplan Mobile App

Disciplining for misbehaviour? 8-11 year olds, they dont really get bored because i know that sometimes that can be the cause. How or what can i apply a bit of strictness into the team.

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