First of all the most important thing is to make sure you are organised - have your drills set up and ready to go for the start of a session - this may require being there maybe a half an hour before the session starts - This will benefit the training session and allow the coach to have a good flow throughout the training session. When coaching at any age but especially at under age level try to cut out the three L's (lines - laps - lectures) this will keep the players occupied, prevent boredom and maximises the player’s confidence. Always try to bring the ball into all on field sessions this will bring the skill level of all your players to a higher level

I come from a small local club and we dont have much equipment i.e balls etc - What is the best way to keep kids out of lines without alot of footballs???

Hi, In terms of not having enough footballs you could always be innovative and adapt your equipment. Use Rugby and tennis balls, even bean bags to make it challenging and fun for the kids, though make sure to use the correct hand passing and handling coaching points when using adaptive equipment.
In my opinion I would not have the kids in lines (sometimes it can be an area for mischief and loss of concentration). Challenge them through small sided games. The term for these games are called "Game Sense". Football is an "open" skilled game i.e., techniques are performed within a variety of situations. I would be inclined to put them in groups of 8-12, play 4v4, 5v5, 6v4 etc games and condition the rules. (See possession game videos)
The benefits of this is that they will get plenty of touch of the ball whilst working on their technical and tactical skill. They will also develop an understanding of team play Through these games players have decisions to make all the time, in linear drills the do not.
Here are some guidelines for developing these games within your coaching sessions.
1. Have an aim or theme for each game. What are you trying to achieve?
2. Use small teams eg. 2-6 players to maximize the no. of decisions they make
3. What are the main rules? The size of the area? (can adjust during game)
4. Prepare variations for the game eg. What is the next progression (eg. add another defender)
5. Develop questions to assist in the learning process. Who was the best person to pass to? Where was the best place to run?
If the kids are able to answer it means they will understand.
I hope this helps.
Pete

Great info Pete.
Just to add as a coach try and ask your underage players why? Answers to that question will let you know if the players really understand. If they dont it also tells you that maybe you need to get your point across another way.
Love the idea of using different balls as a fun activity for kids. I think that would work even well with senior teams as a good variation.

need a few ideas for u6s drills

U6 coaching is brilliant when it goes well - the key is to make it fun - One tip is to make the first and last exercise fun dont even do a football drill - a child will only remember the first and the last exercise when the session is over. (With such competition from soccer, rugby etc... it is very important that the child really enjoys your session and wants to come back to the next session) work on their skills and movement in the middle of the session - A child of this age will learn without even knowing it -

Regarding Drills - Get them moving properly hopping, jumping, running side-stepping etc. Also try to get as many balls as you can for training - even let them bring their own ball - the more a child touches the ball the more skills the will develop. i.e. get them all moving at the same time while doing skills - E.G. Bring in observation, when you hold up a red cone all players need to Freeze - Get them using their heads, communicate with each other and have fun while doing skills -

Really break down the drills, make sure they have fun and try to build their love for the GAA - Always develop their left and right sides equally - If a child asks you for one more go at some activity let them - that means the enjoyed it and you have got them hooked

Hope this helps
Andy

Hi Manny,

I've been coaching 4-8 year olds for my club for 3 years now and gained substantial experience.

Organising
- we usually have 60 kids for each session so we divide the group into 3 ages groups. We then divide the each age group into 4 teams of 5 kids. I feel its really important to have an adult leading each team of 5, it makes communicating much easier so 12 adults are organised the day before to lead each team of 5 and no coaching experience or football expertise is necessary for this role.

Warm-up
- pulse raising games like; Stuck in the mud, Chain tag, Tag itself, Bulldog, and use loads of imagination to make it fun.

- mobility exercises (I don't go overboard on these, only to educate the young people the stages of warming up)

- stretching (again we don't stretch everything, but we do emphasise on the back and hamstrings along with a different muscle each week)


Main Session
- For easy organisation I divide the session into 3 areas, each area has a coach organising the activities and I co-ordinate the session. The coaches will demonstrate everything and the team leaders will communicate it to their group of 5.

Skills Development with the ball - Each week we'd focus on a key skill and break it down into a few movements. We do the skills development in front of the parents and encourage them to help their young person practice!

Athletic Development - We're lucky to have a qualified athletics coach on board to work on all aspects of athletic ability.

Football (conditioned games)

End of the session
- We always have a fun game with everyone involved!

I have 3 principles I apply to coaching:

1. Safety & Equality (physical safety and mental safety, it’s important that each young person leaves the session with at least the same confidence they came with)

2. Fun (Young people vote with their feet, if they stop turning out then the fun element must be questioned)

3. Progress (must be measured)

We coach 4-8 year olds for 10 weeks at a time, 3 times a year, and we try not to burn out our volunteer resourses!

Same idea as Andy, start & finish the session with as much fun as possible, sometimes this might mean you have to act silly, but it works!

Coaching takes place 1-3 hours a week! Play at home could be anything up to 5 hours a day, try to get young people playing at home!

I hope this helps!

Dominic Mc Glinchey

That's brilliant Dominic. Wish all sessions could be this well structured. It's great though being able to get this information.

I am a qualified PE teacher and have spent the past 10 years working in the Primary sector in the UK as Healthy Schools, Key Stage 2 and PE Co-ordinator and about 2 years ago I went on a course called FUN's and Raise the Bar and I can safely say that I recommend that anybody who is involved in coaching children from 4 upwards should do this course. It was simply the most motivating, informative, inspiring and FUN course I had ever attended. It reinforces lots of what people have mentioned here and I know Andy has been on the course and now delivers it himself.

There needs to be a huge emphasis on FUN and removing any Fear of Failure so that children are willing to have a go and not be afraid to make a mistake. I feel that too many training sessions are drilled and remove decision making. We tell them to go here, do this and then come back here, yet in a game situation it is the child that has to make the decisions when they are in control of the ball or trying to read a game. Raise the Bar is a scheme with a huge number of activities that focus on creating the whole athlete: the physical (improve agility, balance and co-ordination, perform skills with increased accuracy), cognitive ( analyse performance and where to improve. Make adjustments in decision making,i.e. if something is not working what will I try next), Creative (Experiment with skills, show originality, do the unexpected, demonstrate flare), Social ( work effectively with others, resolve conflict, accept role, inspire and enthuse others) and finally Personal (cope with success/failure, show determination/resilience, take risks, learn independently and take opportunity to refine skills outside of training situation, i.e. at home or at school). What is core to all of this is that the children enjoy.

FUN's focus on the fundamentals of movement and it covers all areas of agility, balance and co-ordination. It starts off with very basic skills and children progress to the next level only when they have satisfied the success criteria. Because it is based on levels children can't get enough of this and really push themselves on to try to get to the next level. One of the most important points here is that a child cannot move onto the next level until they can perform the skill on both sides as Andy said earlier. This prevents one-sided players but also builds up the muscles evenly and helps to prevent injury. You would be amazed what children can achieve using this scheme and I dare say that many adults would have huge difficulty attempting the last 2 levels of difficulty(isn't that right Andy!) but I have seen children of very average ability get there and the buzz they get from it is a joy to see. The self-esteem of children rockets as they complete each level. The skills are broken down into teaching/coaching points which enables the child to see what they need to do to succeed in that particular level. By doing this it gives them an understanding of what the purpose of the skill is too.


Lots of the warm-up games such as cat and mouse, stuck in the mud, etc. are very good to get the blood pumping and get children involved in movements such as side-stepping and changing directions and awareness of what is happening in the environment. But how often do we take time to teach the children how to: hop, skip, side-step, jump, run backwards or pivot. Yet these movements are core to our sports. NEVER ASSUME the child can do it. Raise the Bar introduces many others that are FUN but also include the ball, beanbag, sliothar or whatever. I feel that a child should touch the ball at least 200 times a session because you cannot improve ball handling skills if you don't have the ball and at the end of the day that is why we are all there. I never would have played hurling if there was no sliothar.

The scary thing is that too many people are still turning up to training 5 minutes before the start of it, see what is in the boot and then plan the session while the children are running a couple of laps (NO NO NO!). 'If you Fail to plan then plan to Fail.' Someone mentioned earlier that children vote with their feet and if they don't enjoy something, feel involved or valued then they are likely to opt out.


All that I have mentioned above can be adapted to suit any sport and can very easily be incorporated into training sessions even if it is only a 10/15 minute slot at the begging, middle or end of a session. If people are interested in finding out more about this then you can find out more about it from Andy Moran or myself. As I mentioned earlier it is a 1 day course that blew me away and gave me a lifetime of coaching ammunition. A number of governing bodies such as RFU are using this as a must have in their Level 1 coaching award and certain counties in England won't award you a coaching certificate unless you have completed the FUN's and Raise the Bar courses as they are central to understanding how children develop.

Use the idea formula as taught in coaching courses,
I : introduce
D : demonstrate
E : execute
A : assess

Again I could be corrected but that sounds very structured. There needs to be room for the child to be creative (showing some flair) and also make decisions. I don't agree with do this, then do this, then go here and do that. At times it is required and I do use it myself but be careful not to over-use it or training can become one dimensional. There needs to be variety or the children will get bored.

Sorry Brendan I was referring to older lads, I agree that is a bit much for younger kids.

Demonstrating a drill is the easiest way to work drills imo - for all ages. Break down the skill being used into head, hands, feet, and hurley if hurling - it makes it easier for the child to understand the skill and it also makes it easier for the coach to analyse the player and where they are going wrong. If you bring something like that in early in a player, then as they grow, you can ask them why something did not go right and they will be able to identify why, and further on, won't need to be asked, but will be able to analyse it themselves. Probably from about under 10 on, where the skills are becoming more and more important, and where the kids have the ability to understand

I'd agree with Brendan in a lot of his post, I'm a PE student atm, and we've just completed a skill acquisition module with a group of six year olds - ABCs are so so important at that stage - and ensuring the kids have fun at the session! Games and more game at a very young age, and try and incorporate a ball as much as possible. For all underage groups, the focus that I have taken from the modules that we have done is to use a games based approach to training, instead of drills, use games. We did it for soccer on a theory and practical approach, and it just takes a little imagination! We got away from line drills very quickly, while still doing a game that covered and improved a certain skills

Praise is a huge thing for kids - they will remember if a coach tells them well done for doing something, especially told individually going from the very young to the older players! Give feedback, but do not be negative - if you are trying to correct something they are doing, praise them on something else, give the feedback and say but you are doing very well at x, well done and keep it up. Its known as the feedback sandwich!

I 100% agree with rebel_girl regarding skill breakdown. I refer to it as the success criteria, i.e. what do I need to do to be successful. It means you number the steps so the children can coach themselves through the process. Don't know if people are old enough to remember the safe cross code advert from the 80's (remember 1 look for a safe place. 2. Don't hurry stop and wait. 3 etc.) This is a prime example of breaking down a skill into steps so that children can talk themselves through the skill and it also helps them to identify what exact part of a skill, if any, they find difficult. It can be done for all A,B,C's.

It is always hugely important to start at the most basic skills and again I harp on about the fact that you should never assume a child can do something. I have been working with some children and it has taken them more than 10 minutes to demonstrate that they can balance on 1 foot for 10 seconds.

Praise can be very much neglected or over-used in coaching/teaching. I always try to catch a child in rather than try to catch them out. Always look for an opportunity to praise a child but make sure that the praise is earned. Be very careful with praise because if you are praising children left, right and centre, your praise can become a bit meaningless. Children are not stupid and are very quick to pick up on things. If I praise a child and they know themselves that it really wasn't earned then the next time I praise him or her, and although it may have been earned, they MIGHT disregard it. So to summarise that point don't praise a child if it is not truly earned as it will make genuine praise worthless. But do praise them when earned and witness the hugely positive effect it has.

As a newbie to coaching, I find this forum quite interesting. However, a couple of games weew mentioned: Stuck in the mud, Chain tag, Bulldog.... what are these???

thanks!

Stuck in the Mud -
Stuck in the mud is a classic game and is a great pulse raiser for any age.

Two people are 'on' (that is depending on the size of the class - my example is for a class of 15-23 students). They have to chase the people that are not 'on' and tag them.

When they have tagged another student who was not on, that person is 'stuck in the mud'. They stand with legs and arms out and they cannot move. The only way to release them is if another person who is not stuck goes under the student that is stuck to free them. They can go through the person's legs, or under their arms.

This continues for about 5-10 minutes or until everybody is stuck. To increase the difficulty level, use more catchers.

Chain Tag

Choose two 'catchers', who link arms/hold hands. They chase the others (as in 'tig') and catch them.

If you are caught, you join the chain. You can let the chain go the whole length or split it when four people are in the chain, 2 sets of 2.

The last person caught is the WINNER!!!

Cats & Mice

Choose two of the class to be cats, everyone else is a mouse and wears a tail (coloured band) in the back of their shorts.

The mice run around and the cats try to catch them by pulling the tails out. Make sure tails are showing before starting and ask cats to collect tails that they pull out so that no one slips on them.

Count the tails at the end and the cat with the most tails is the winner!


Up, Down, Stop, Go!
Children have to listen very carefully! Builds children's awareness and listening skills

On GO - children must stop still.
On STOP - children must move around the space either walking or running.
On UP - children must sit or lay down.
On DOWN - children must stretch up to the ceiling
Coach can catch children 'out' if so desired.

Just a few to get started

Hi folks, I just came across the website this morning and must say I've been hugely impressed with the content and the well thought out, educated posts made on this forum.
I've been coaching extensively (mostly hurling) for a number of years now and the main aspect I try to focus on every session is how to get the players to practise in their own time. For me this has been the basic element when planning all my coaching sessions for younger teams. Obviously fun plays a huge part in achieving this. While I agree that breaking the skills down with simple instructions is an integral part of coaching teams and players, ideally if a player spends enough time practising he or she will develop and improve their skills naturally.

There are many ways to encourage players to practise at home, when our team were U9 we organised a skills challenge over 5 weeks, the players got a sheet with a cerain challenges (i.e. how many jab lifts in a min) they had to fill this out every time, and would return it at training.

We also used to put aside a few minutes of each training session for 'Freestyling' where the players would show off as many skills/ flicks etc as they could. They'd be asked to come up with their own skills/ routines and the best would be picked out each week for the whole team to practise.

Recognition I have also found to be effective. If a child is asked to do something (practise), it's important to recognise when they do it. This point might seem a bit trivial or stupid but anytime I drive past a player with their hurl and sliotar I make sure to beep at them and give them a thumbs up, also I'll make sure to tell the rest of the team at training as to who I saw out practising during the week.

Gearoid I would very much agree with recognition of children's efforts. As a primary school teacher and a coach it is a very powerful tool. If you praise a child for even sitting up properly you will see the others around sit up properly straight away looking for a bit of praise. As I said before catch them in rather than catch them out.

The Coaching courses that I deliver FUN's and Raise the Bar would back up and reinforce a lot of what you said. Setting the children a challenge is a super method of getting them to practice at home or at school. FUN's has based it's scheme on Nintendo research which has pumped millions and millions into understanding the child psychology. If you look at Nintendo games they have different levels and children really try and want to get onto the next level which will always be more challenging but you can use the skills that you have acquired in previous levels to succeed. When I work with children I always show them the next level at the end of a session or lesson and they will invariable have a go at it while you are speaking to them, or at home because they want to achieve. I have said before that if you see a child trying a skill while you are demonstrating or having another go after you say stop, don't tell them off as they are just showing that they are motivated and really want to do it.


Again I fully agree with the free-styling as encouraging the children to be creative is extremely important. This is a major part of Raise the Bar. It is this child who will do the unexpected in a match and have greater variation to their game. Embrace it and let other children have a go at the skill as well. If a child gets upset because others are copying their move/skill then tell him or her to take it as a compliment as people only copy things that impress them. It might not be the most talented hurler or footballer who comes up with the most creative idea but giving this child a chance to show what he/she can do can improve the ability and performance of all involved and make him/her feel very proud/valued and a part of the team. Very good post Gearoid lots of simple ideas that should keep the children turning up at your sessions which is what it is all about at that age.

Hi all i am involved in coaching kids myself and while i am a gaa coach tutor where we do teach the fundamental movements, i was wondering if anyone know if there is any courses specifically run for the fundamental movements in the cork area.

Pity you didn't ask it in January! UCC ran one recently http://www.ucc.ie/en/study/ace/what/short/jan2011/movementskills/ is the link to it. I actually know one of the guys that tutored on it - is very very good coaching wise. I presume it will be run again this time next year, so keep on eye on the UCC website and in the Cork papers - UCC always advertise these well!