I'm curious at what age people think it's appropriate to teach junior players how to defend / attack from set pieces and corners.

There's nothing specific in the National Curriculum that I can see. The focus seems to be on skill development up to the U13s and then more game development from U14s up.

I coach an U13s team and up to now have preferred to focus on developing their technical skills - particularly because half my team should be playing in the U12s and even U11s.

We've done some work on our shape on the field, making sure our back four move up, down and across as a group and the team go wide or compact depending on the stage of play.

Should I work more on set pieces, or continue to focus on developing their core skills?

Concentrate on technique, its not in the FFA NC because you don't have to train for them.

If you do try to practice free kicks, corners and shooting watch the session and count how many touches they get, taking into account they should have 600-1000 touches in a session.

And all I will say is that this philosophy comes from the top.

Well I teach under 9s how to defend a corner , how to kick off , how to play out from the back and how to attack on mass. I play 2 1 2 1 and I have a player that only wishes to play keeper. My players train 3 days a week 2 with me, and one with either Gareth Edds or the fury academy. 1 day with me is skill 1 day with the academies is skill and the last day with me is skills and ways to attack and play out.
They can all juggle over 30 half can do over 100 they can all do step overs, pass and control with both feet, hook turns, pull backs with both feet, roll overs with both feet, zinadin zadan turns, turn with the outside of the both feet, dribble, run with the ball, stop and go, headers, chest to both feet, and pull a ball out of the air under control.
They are encouraged to use skill at all times, play back to the keeper change the angle of attack and play across the back line even across their own goal and never ever kick the ball up the field or out of play. The keeper is encouraged to use his feet to take on a player and play out 1st option defenders second winger 3rd attackers who are all in our own half.

They should all be playing up 1 or 2 years and their first touch and insight is fantastic every one of them.

Ill tell you a secret this is what they do and more in Spain at U9

Although this is not what the curriculum says to do but it is what the curriculum was designed to create. My players play
with out fear and are more than comfortable with having the ball at their feet even in their own penalty box. some of the parents have heart attacks when they play across their own goal but the players are fine with it. They know when to and when not and if they make a mistake ....................So.

Krones, How long have your boys been working on those skills? has it been from U6 or simply just this year?

And what is your view on a boy playing up an age group or 2 ? Is it better to have a boy stay in his age group and "comfortably" play his game effectively and "dominate" most matches, or is it better to have him play against older boys and have to fight harder to have an impact.

It has been a progression of skills since U6 they had a fantastic coach from U6 to U8 and I simply continued with their skills.

If a child can play up without fear of getting hurt then it is good however if he will be hurt from week to week then he may well loose confidence that would be bad.IMO

OK thanks. I was just interested to hear how long it took the boys to pick up those skills.

I would concentrate the bulk of training on what they need in open play, with only a small time on restarts nd then depending on the age/ability would type of restarts, you can even have 'restarts as condition of a game , ie quick short free quicks , all restarts from the goalkeeper etc etc.

With respect I think that is why Australian players are so immature. Everything has to be explained to them and the understanding behind what they are doing is not as easy for them as it is for kids in Europe. Start young is my opinion. Teach them how, when and why to move an opponent.