U10-U12 Coaching Manuel: Part II U10 Characteristics

B. U-10/U-12 PLAYER CHARACTERISTICS

Before coaches can start designing a player development program, they must understand

the skill level, characteristics, and maturity level of the players. This is done through

observation of the target age group in practices and games followed by a thorough,

objective analysis. Too often, coaches design a practice program based on what they

want the players to learn, as opposed to what the players can handle. Coaches who are

not skilled observers can easily misdiagnose the needs of the players.

The USSF National Youth License course takes the same player-centered approach with

its stated philosophy that THE GAME WITHIN EACH CHILD is at the center of all

beliefs, decisions and actions taken by the child, the coach and the organization and that a

training program needs to be DEVELOPMENTALLY APPROPRIATE. The National

Youth License course sets the tone with excellent analysis of the motor skills, cognitive

(problem solving) skills, and social characteristics of each age group, with supporting

expert information from renowned psychologists, philosophers, and educators.

This manual takes it a step further and adds the technical and tactical considerations tothe motor skills, cognitive and social aspects of this age group. Since we are focusing

here on the ‘golden age’ of technical and tactical foundation, it is important to thoroughly

analyze the technical and tactical realities of 8-11 year-olds. To that end, we start with a

detailed profile of this exciting age group in order to prepare the reader for the task of

prescribing the correct game and training environment.

Characteristics of U-10 Players

U-10 Motor Skill Development

Boys and girls begin to develop differently and it makes sense now to separate the

genders. Stamina and ability to stay physically active increased as compared to U-8, but

players still lack adult-level stamina and tire quickly. The good news is that they recover

quickly as well. Young players are more prone than adults to heat injury. They are also

affected by accelerated heat loss, increasing risk of hypothermia.

Gross and small motor skills become more refined. There is a great diversity in playing

ability and physically mature individuals demonstrate stronger motor skills. Children can

make rapid gains in learning and function at increasingly sophisticated levels in the

performance movement skills. Kids of this age are often described by coaches as

‘sponges’ for their ability and enthusiasm to learn new skills.

Implications:

Sessions of 75-90 minutes, with frequent water breaks, that don’t require excessive

running which can tire the players needlessly. We want the players physically fresh for

the technical work and emphasize maximum ball touches throughout the session.

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U-10 Cognitive Development

Play at this age becomes less egocentric. The “Me! My toy! I don’t want to share it!”

stage is disappearing and players begin to appreciate the benefits of cooperation with

others. This is the dawn of ‘team’ play and the understanding of what ‘being part of a

team’ means. Introduction of ‘competitive’ and ‘cooperative’ activities is appropriate

and effective. Whereas some younger players (U-6/U-8) would not deal well with an

activity where the ball is ‘stolen’ from them by teammates, U-10 players normally accept

that competition in practice is necessary and is even fun. They can get excited when a

competitive activity gets ‘down to the wire’ and celebrate victory with loud enthusiasm.

The ‘cooperative’ types of activities teach them the value of team work and that some

tasks are easier accomplished when players work together.

Players begin to understand and appreciate the need for rules and limits and a code of

conduct. When an individual breaks a practice rule set by the coach, teammates get upset

and will not be slow in reminding him. Abstract thinking begins. The ability to sequence

thoughts and action is evident, with some players beginning to think in advance of the

ball. Hence, tactical concepts of time and space can be introduced. Starting to

understand fundamental tactical concepts such as changing direction of the ball, passing

back in order to go forward, etc.

They exhibit lengthened attention span compared to U-8, but still short compared to

adults. Players are still fidgety and hyper, and require short explanations and getting

activity going quickly. Repetitive technique very important, but it MUST BE

DYNAMIC, NOT STATIC.

Players are intrinsically motivated to play. They are more inclined towards wanting to

play rather than being told to play. They also demonstrate increased responsibility:

- Bring ball and water to practice

- Tuck in jersey and pull socks up

- Carry own stuff.

Implications

Although technical development is the highest priority, we can start to teach tactical

concepts to them, but we must stay within their technical range and use clear and brief

explanations. Competition in practice is fun for them and they love activities that pit one

group against the other with a winner declared. We should give the players more

responsibilities by asking them to carry out on their own as many tasks as possible, i.e.

bring own equipment, split into groups, set the grids, put on the bibs, gather the balls to

start an activity, and make decisions on the field.

It is especially important to allow them to make their own decisions and solve their own

problems in activities and game, and experience the consequences of their own decisions.

We provide guidance in appropriate doses and at the right moments, but now that they are

able to connect cause to effect, learning by ‘trial and error’ is very effective.

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U-10 Social Skills Development

Adults outside the family (coach!) may take on added significance and the importance of

the coach as a role model cannot be overstated. Continued positive reinforcement is still

the most effective communication tool as players are psychologically fragile.

Players may initiate play on their own at this stage. They become more serious about

their play and start comparing themselves to teammates. Peer pressure is significant as

well as team identification. Players enjoy the uniforms and find it ‘cool’ to be part of a

team.

Players begin to understand and see that repetitive practice of a technique results in

improvement. This can be a great motivational tool, since they can now connect the two

concepts of ‘practice’ and ‘improve’. But explanations must still be brief, concise and

purposeful.

Implications

This is a great period of discovery and learning for the players and coaches should take

full advantage of their enthusiasm, but bear in mind that players who develop more

slowly need plenty of encouragement or else the natural enthusiasm might dissipate.

Activities must be organized to ensure every player achieves success, i.e. pairing

opponents of similar ability in practice activities, using ‘inclusive’ games that don’t

eliminate the weakest player early, and focusing on improving their own previous

performance instead of focusing on comparing themselves to the best players.

U-10 Technical and Tactical Development

As explained before, it is critical to develop an intimate understanding of where the

players are, in terms of technical ability, technical range, and tactical maturity. Of vital

importance is the technical RANGE of players, or how far they can pass the ball with any

power and accuracy, and what type of passes can they receive and control. These aspects

have a strong bearing on decisions of field size, number of players and practice design.

Observations of U-10 players at Academy level have yielded the following:

U-10 Technical Considerations

The ability to strike a ball properly and the feel for the proper weight of passes is a clear

deficiency. First touch is also a problem, with players not able to prepare the control

surface effectively, and not having mastered yet the art of cushioning the ball. Bending

balls around opponents or into players’ runs is beyond them at this stage as all passes are

straight line passes. Crossing is also beyond their ability, but then it depends on how one

defines a cross. Some players might be able to generate enough power to get the ball into

the penalty area, especially if ball and crosser converge at speed and at a favorable angle,

but dribbling up the flank and wrapping their feet around the ball to ‘guide’ it into near

post or far post runs is too difficult for them. Crossing from a stationary position is

downright impossible.

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Of all the techniques, dribbling at this age group is usually the most advanced, but mostly

straight line dribbling. U-10 players tend to dribble a lot, partly because they like to

dribble and be in control and partly because they are so focused on looking at the ball that

they lose vision and are oblivious to their passing options. However, shielding is rarely

used with players not knowing yet how to use their bodies and shield the ball or turn

away from pressure.

The range of passing and accuracy varies, but for the most part, is very limited. For a

typical U-10 player to get any distance on a pass, ball and player must be moving towards

each other on contact. Players have to have a running start in order to get power behind

their pass. When required to pass from a stationary position, they can only muster

enough power to hit a 10-15 yards pass. Since they have to mobilize so much of their

body energy just to get the power, accuracy often suffers.

U-10 Tactical Considerations

Understanding of team shape is totally lacking. Players at the U-10 level do not know

how to stretch the field and provide depth and width.

Lack of support is a big problem. Players struggle with providing proper support for the

ball carrier. Players often get caught in opponent’s ‘shadow’ and do not adjust their

positions, hence support angles are poor. Front players’ instinct is to run away from the

ball, straight to goal, denying good support ahead of the ball.

Still on the topic of support, players do not know how to transition from supporting the

passer to supporting the receiver when the ball is played forward. Players have

difficulties with the concept of support behind the ball.

Players do not open their bodies to the field and have a limited vision of the field and

their options. Lack of vision causes players to make poor decisions pertaining to choice

of passes and wall passes. It also leads to poor first touch decisions, with no thoughts

given to the best option and resulting in many give-a-ways.

Players cannot ‘read the pressure’ on teammates. This means they pass the ball to

teammates who are closely marked. It means they do not have a handle on the relation

between distance of pass and distance of marking.

There is practically no deception in the play of U-10’s. Most attacks are played along

vertical lines with players’ instincts to play ‘Kick and Chase’ soccer. The bigger the field

and the bigger the numbers on the field, the more frantic play becomes, with the element

of randomness associated with kick and chase.

Conclusions and Implications

Players coming into the U-9/U-10 level are tactically naïve. It’s quite understandable,

given that their U-6 and U-8 experiences were purely technical, where they spent most of

their time learning to control the ball. For tactical development to occur, the players

must have a certain ‘threshold’ technical ability that will allow them to focus less on

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the ball and more on learning tactical lessons. Most of them do not possess this

threshold technical ability before the U-10 age group and many are not technically ready

even then.

When players graduate to the U-10 level, it is the first time they have some fundamental

ball control, sufficient body motor development, and enough cognitive ability to think

ahead. Armed with basic technique, motor development and cognitive reasoning skills,

they can finally start solving tactical problems. This stage is essentially the first time

they are able to stop and think about their next move, or their next run, and the when’s,

the where’s and the why’s.

Since U-10 players have a limited passing range and are tactically starting ‘from scratch’,

we must therefore break it down for the players and start with the most basic level of

problem solving: The player, the ball, and his/her nearest partner:

Direction of attack

In the scenario shown in the diagram above, we have two X’s (attackers) against two O’s,

with the X’s about 10-15 yards apart. The box represents a portion of the field, not a

specific grid size (There would obviously be other players on the field, but we are

focusing on these four players). Player X2 needs to decide whether to make a run, or stay

where he is. His options are to run forward (1), or run towards the ball (2) or move away

from his marker (3) or just stay put. The player with the ball (X1) needs to decide

whether to pass to X2’s feet, pass into space behind the second defender, do a wall pass

with X2, or dribble.

This scenario seems simplistic enough and easy to solve for experienced, adult coaches

and most of us would quickly agree that, given the position of the two defenders, option 3

is the best one for X2. However, this scenario represents quite a tactical challenge for the

two U-10 attackers. Each of them has at least the four options that we listed above, not to

mention all the possible permutations with other teammates further away and they would

struggle to do the right thing. Most U-10 players would probably choose option 1 or just

stay and ball watch. Furthermore, if X1 passed the ball to X2, he would probably neglect

to adjust and take up the correct support position to help X2 maintain possession. Given

that this simple scenario would pose quite a challenge to U-10 players and is the bedrock

1

O X2

2

O 3

●

X1

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of support play, we need to create practice activities that focus on the player, the ball,and his/her nearest partner and generate many repetitions of this scenario. We

essentially need to put U-9/U-10 players in the 2v2 environment for large portions of

their practice times. This is where they belong, technically and tactically. Although the

game format is 6v6, these young players need to start with learning to solve 2v2 tactical

problems. The other decisive advantage of the 2v2 activity is that technical repetitions

are automatically built in, due to the small number of players sharing the ball.

In conclusion, the bread and butter practice environment for U-9/U-10 should revolve

around technical activities, mixed with tactical 2v2 activities, with variations of grid size,

restrictions, and rules for scoring, to elicit problem solving skills.

This is not to suggest that 3v3, 4v4, 5v5 and 6v6 activities are to be avoided completely.

The players will enjoy playing 5v5 or 6v6 and such numbers can be used occasionally in

practice. What is clear is that the most effective environment for teaching U-9/U-10’s the

basic support play which is sadly lacking is in the 2v2 activities that eliminate all the

other distractions. If we don’t spend sufficient time with 2v2 or skip the 2v2 step and go

directly to bigger numbers in practice, such as 4v4 and 6v6, the players will not get

sufficient repetitions to ingrain the concepts. Some will also experience information

overload playing bigger numbers and will revert to kick and chase soccer.

In the final analysis, the players will dictate where they need to be. By observing the

players and assessing whether they are correctly solving the support problems, coaches

will be able to prescribe the appropriate training environment.

It boils down to the observation skills of the coaches. Can the coach tell when players

have demonstrated a readiness for larger numbers?