Could be worse - try 10 32 year olds on for size.


What do you think about the FourFourTwo blog Counting down to the new season?
So how do you prepare for the new season with 32 ten year olds to work with for 30 weeks from the end of February?
There will be four of us coaching this group for the season and just to reiterate ou...

Have your say.

Shouldn't be a problem, there are some 9 year olds in Lismore that can do this in their rep/development squads.

that's good to hear...most of these kids are 9 and won't be turning 10 until later in the year

Enjoyed reading the blog particularly the 10 point objective list. It fits nicely with what we're trying to do at my club which in turn is in line with the (English) FA's Future Game coaching policy. We'll be making the step up to 11 a side in September and will start preparing for that now. Keep us updated.

Following on from some other threads, it would be really helpful if the FFA could provide sufficient information in its ‘curriculum’ so that individual coaches didn’t have to try and interpret age requirements on their own.

In the absence of clear national standards it’s important we all do create our own. The only comments I’d make about coaching ten year olds is to emphasise 1 on 1 attacking skills more. These are the hardest to attain and are the skills that many coaches discourage because they involve risk. So I’ve added some objectives to Andy’s list. These could be condensed to so that there is still a 10 point list by removing or merging some of the original list. I haven't done this because at the moment it's better to consider what should go in rather than dispute what should be left out.




All skills below are to be performed with equal competence with both feet.


1v1


Ability to use at least two different skills to beat a defender on either side of their body.

Ability to shield ball from a defender for several seconds using both feet.



Turning

Able to use 4 (or more) different turns when running with the ball (eg inside hook, outside hook, stop turn, Cruyff, Zidane). All with both feet

Ability to use 3 different turns in either direction when receiving the ball

Ability to use 3 different turns to go either way when attacker and ball are both stationary.

Thanks distant fan - and you're right 1v1 attacking is a major part of their development at this age when they are learning the technique. When I was this age my right foot started to become dominant and without proper coaching this affected my whole game not just striking the ball but also my ability to turn was very centred on my right foot. This is something I'm very aware of with this group so will work hard on developing both feet and the ability to turn both ways.

I went for the catch all "range of skill moves" to incorporate turns and moves to beat players such as stepovers, feints etc

cheers

Andy