The official thread for Junior Coaches around the country.

Discuss, methods, problems, solutions, stories etc.

I coach Meadow Park U12s in Melbourne, I'm only 16 myself so it's going to be a test but I feel I can handle it.

Me and my mate coach U12/3 team for North Rocks. We have one 1 game 7 - 0 but lost our second 6 - 3 (missing 5 players).


How you finding coaching them MC.

Amazing improvement since I took over a couple of weeks ago. Apparently I've got a couple of players that don't respect their teachers, previous coaches, parents etc but they're all paying attention to me because of shown my authority and I think I'm running a training session that they're enjoying.

there needs to be better coaching for the junior leagues. i play u16s, and the training isn't helpful, for want of a better word...

Brilliant idea this thread. I've just started coaching under6s at my local club (Rochedale Rovers) and its extremely challenging. Did my jnr licence last year, but nothing prepared me for working with a bunch of 6 year olds. Now I know why I only had one kid....who just happens to be on my team, which in itself is a problem (who wants to listen to mum at home and at footy training?) Most of the team have never played before and getting them to listen, especially on match days, is so hard. Anyone with u6 experience got any tips??

Keep it interesting at training. Theres a few games I knbow that I can suggest if you want. Ask your club if they have a coaching co-ordinator and if so ask for some help. I did U/6 3 years ago but I think my boys might have been abit different that yours (4 have gone to rep the rest are playing Div/1) I was fortunate aswell in the fact that the kids lived soccer and the parents helped. Best thing for games lollies after the game training Fox 40 whistle. They listen when you blow that ;)

Yeah good work man. We have this kid in our team got kicked out of reps because of his attitude so his hard to handle but he is starting to listen to us now so its good.


Our results for the year:

Rd 1 W - 7 - 0

Easy win against a much weaker team. Credit to the other team as they stuck with us and had fun albeit they were being slaughtered.

Rd 2 L - 6 - 3

We would have one except for 2 fluke goals and 2 displays of individuall brilliance in the last minutes.

Rd 3 D - 2 - 2

We were unlucky this week. Ref cut our game short and we had 5 shots hit the post then bouce out ](*,) Oh well.

Rd 4 L - 3 - 0

Shocking. The opposition team dropped down from Div 1 and it showed. Also there coach was a physco. Told one of there kids he wasn't going to play him because he was shit. That is jus not on imo. We were missing our star forward otherwise we propably would have picked up the win. Our forwards who were replacing him missed 4 goals he would have got. Ohh well.

Rd 5 W - 3 - 1

We took an early lead but the opposition pulled one goal back. Our training paid off and the boys passing ripped it. 2 goals from 1 - 2 's had us win the game 3 - 1 fairly easy.

Rd 6 L - 3 - 0

We didn't turn on. Played like a bunch of headless chickens. One of the parents apparently told the kids if they scored from 1/2 way they would get $10 so they were all shooting from there.

Rd 7 W - 3 - 1

Great game by the bvoys. Playing a team who went through last season undefeated we played the game to our pace. The boys passing was spot on and the through balls were perfect. We have 2 of the best keepers in the comp and they are playing great each game. Best goal of the season so far off a corner one of the boys was running around and wasn't looking ball hit him in the back of the head and went past the keeper. We had good luck aswell. Ref missed a handball in the box. Only bad thing is one of our midfielders has picked up a bruised hip.

My under6s won their first game this weekend, which was great! But also, Ive got a couple of players, smaller kids, that have been very timid around the ball - 2 of them are on record as only wanting to be goalies - which I stamped out very firmly in training last Monday night. Those same smaller kids, were totally responsible for our win - which was fantastic. They were so involved in the game, and I like to think it was because I wouldn't let them go in goals at all in training :-"

I want to get into coaching/managing aswell. I've been reading up on the information on what to do etc. Seems like I gotta apply for Junior Coaching license.

My main worry is how to handle the kids, and also how to handle their parents. If I do anything wrong, the parents will be hard to control lol. Also, how much leadership qualities do you need to display? DO you need to be very vocal and stand on the touchline shouting names etc? Or can you be a Mourinho or a Rijkaard and just do proper managerial style by sitting down and doing tactics etc?

it depends what age group you want to do.
if you want to start your own side and develop them,start 13's or 14's.
i did that with my 15's last year and the 16's team now are absolute guns, scored 21 goals
in 3 games and will win division 1, move to champions on champions for the 2nd year in a row!
i am beginning wonder what i could have done with them if they were 13's or 14's when i started with them.

the best age group is youth, however if you don't know what you are talking about, they will not respect you.
in youth, i lose all the parents getting involved sort of stuff, they are young men and can take care of themselves.

It depends what age group you want to coach. I find the u6s parents are just really grateful that someone put their hand up for the job and it wasn't them. My plan is to go on for a few years from u6s upwards. You need to be firm with the kids and I reckon the younger they are, the harder it is, you can't yell at u6s like you can u14s. They....cry.....

I found the junior coaching licence course itself, a lot of fun and extremely helpful in terms of planning training sessions etc, but it did nothing to help me work out how to deal with kids so young - and im a parent of an under6....

OK, Dilemna.......

One of the parents (a Dad) has asked if he can help me with the training. Sure, why not its always good to get input. His first session training (u6s keep in mind) in our "game" at the end of the session, he has the kids standing in positions ie LB, CD, RB, LW etc. These kids are far too young to grasp the concept of specific positions are they not? I don't really want to coach the kids like this, but I get the feeling as a Dad he wants something "more" for his kid than just fun....

Just say you appreciate his help but you would like to take the team in a different direction.

That will not go down well at all, you have to talk it over with him, remind him that they're only kids, and that they're learning basic technique before tactics at that age. the kids should be learning all the basic principles before they are put into positions and at taht age they are to young. just remind him of that and see what he as to say. often parents can be a handy asset to have at training and the like.

It worked for me :-k

parents want to have a say in things, especially the pushy ones...
plus, having parents on side is somewhat helpful if a littlun decides to throw a tantrum.

Yeah I found an awesome site on the net that has heaps of tips specifically for u6s - u8s. I will have a chat, because positional play is just not what these kids need to worry about right at this point. Im flat out getting them to spread out from the kick off let alone staying in the one position for the entire game.

i've found that a good thing to do is to get them just linking up passes to eachother to get them to spread out and they learn how to play possesion football etc at the same time.

A good little drill to help that is to get them to run say 25 m in pairs passing a ball between them.

you have to build up their confidence for passing and recieving the ball, then when they know more that they wont have to chase the abll up and down the pitch they'll start spreading out more.

Just signed up to do my Junior coaching course. Following that i'll do the Youth one.

Looking at eventually doing the senior course, but am probably looking more at coaching younger kids.

As a 29 year old I reckon i'll have a little less probs with overbearing parents, but if they push me my time in the military will come in handy i reckon.

I'm excited about putting back into the game after playing for so long.