Grassroots coaching thread

[kp789]

After reading through some opinions in the thread on Englands football culture, it has got me wondering if any of you lot on here coach football as well as spectate? Thought this might be a nice idea to share coaching ideas, philosophies and drills etc, or discuss coaching issues.

I have been coaching for around 3 years now and am currently in California doing it right now. Looking forward to coming back and coaching in the UK again. It is my passion and something I wish to do professionally, but as I never played pro, I am already at a disadvantage. I have been invited into a number of championship clubs to observe the academy and first team sides, even managed to meet a city player out on loan! It was intriguing to see the difference in how sessions are run within academies in comparison to some of the 'old school' Sunday league guys.

I would like to kick off with a topic.

Firstly, I take my hat off to everyone who volunteers within football. They don't get paid for it and are ensuring that kids have the opportunity to play and progress within the game. But are some, doing more damage than good? Do not get me wrong, I am at no point criticising or attacking these volunteers. What I am questioning is whether we can proceed with the current state of affairs. One of the dad's goes off and does his FA level 1 and then is responsible for a major portion of his team and it's players footballing development, yet in most cases, they have next to know idea how kids learn, or take on information. Many do not run age appropriate drills, but revert back to what they 'used to do as a lad'. Is this one of the big reasons why the English game is failing? We are not concentrating at the source, the foundation of the game?

I am a fan of the Youth Modules that have been brought in. I have took the first 2 and will complete the award next year. These actually show you how to effectively coach kids as you learn about how each individual is different and how they learn, on and off the field (kinaesthetic, audial, visual learners etc) and how to deal with different personalities so that each child can receive the same level of learning. It also teaches about the appropriate way to speak and coach (Not yelling, overcoaching etc) So a positive learning environment can be created.
Should those who coach youth football, have to hold these as a pre-requisite? I appreciate that this could cause less to volunteer as many do not want to pay the money it takes to sit the course, but it would benefit the grass roots game to a large degree. The FA should make courses cheaper and more accessible.

Thoughts?

 

[super_city_si]

Good thread. I coach for a u13 boys rep team in Toronto. The club I'm at has a director of football, who is full time and he designs the programme we follow for practice. I Do it for fun and because my son is on the team.
Canada has just implemented a long term player development programme which is ment to keep kids interested all through to their adult life so they will play it for life.
Here, a lot of talented kids leave at 12 or so to play ice hockey full time.

The new LTPD programme has 7 a side for 8-11, 9 a side to 12 and full size from 13 onwards. No scores or standings are kept until they are 13.

The practice emphasis is on GAG ( game - activity - game) where you introduce a concept in the first game and have rules to follow, practice a drill to enforce it then play the last game without rules just reinforcing the concept vocally and stopping every now no then to highlight. I hve my coaching badges for U7-U12 and U13 to adult.

The director is an English bloke who has his UEFA b license and he really likes the new methods from the English FA. I think it's calle future game. I downloaded the app and Some of the games and drills are really good.

We emphasize pass and move with ball retention paramount, and the kids are really improving. I find a lot of the teams here are ethnic, Ukranian, Portuguese, Greek etc..and a lot of them still stick the biggest, fastest kid up front and play it long. Unfortunately, this works whilst the kids are developing as there is such a disparity in size as they mature at different rates. But I've found in our U13 boys that now the size is levelling off, our tactics and ability to actually play football are coming to the fore and our results are improving. The kid who used to score 50 goals a season based on size and speed is now much less effective and finds himself plying for weaker teams as he was never developed correctly.

It really is great when you see something youve practiced used and actually work in game. Great feeling.

 

[Tbilisi]

After reading through some opinions in the thread on Englands football culture, it has got me wondering if any of you lot on here coach football as well as spectate? Thought this might be a nice idea to share coaching ideas, philosophies and drills etc, or discuss coaching issues.

I have been coaching for around 3 years now and am currently in California doing it right now. Looking forward to coming back and coaching in the UK again. It is my passion and something I wish to do professionally, but as I never played pro, I am already at a disadvantage. I have been invited into a number of championship clubs to observe the academy and first team sides, even managed to meet a city player out on loan! It was intriguing to see the difference in how sessions are run within academies in comparison to some of the 'old school' Sunday league guys.

I would like to kick off with a topic.

Firstly, I take my hat off to everyone who volunteers within football. They don't get paid for it and are ensuring that kids have the opportunity to play and progress within the game. But are some, doing more damage than good? Do not get me wrong, I am at no point criticising or attacking these volunteers. What I am questioning is whether we can proceed with the current state of affairs. One of the dad's goes off and does his FA level 1 and then is responsible for a major portion of his team and it's players footballing development, yet in most cases, they have next to know idea how kids learn, or take on information. Many do not run age appropriate drills, but revert back to what they 'used to do as a lad'. Is this one of the big reasons why the English game is failing? We are not concentrating at the source, the foundation of the game?

I am a fan of the Youth Modules that have been brought in. I have took the first 2 and will complete the award next year. These actually show you how to effectively coach kids as you learn about how each individual is different and how they learn, on and off the field (kinaesthetic, audial, visual learners etc) and how to deal with different personalities so that each child can receive the same level of learning. It also teaches about the appropriate way to speak and coach (Not yelling, overcoaching etc) So a positive learning environment can be created.
Should those who coach youth football, have to hold these as a pre-requisite? I appreciate that this could cause less to volunteer as many do not want to pay the money it takes to sit the course, but it would benefit the grass roots game to a large degree. The FA should make courses cheaper and more accessible.

Thoughts?

I coach an U14s team with another of the Dads.We have done it for 4 years and taken us from Div 2 to Div 1.If we win our games in hand we could go top.Punching above our weight though.

I did the Level 1 and it was very poor.Typical FA Course,awful in content,theory with no relevance imo.
I was sat there wondering if Argentinians do this sort of nonsense.

I think its hard enough to get anybody involved in coaching nowadays let alone take a load more qualifications.Im self employed and I struggle with time as it is.

The bigger issue for me is the lack of decent playing surfaces,its a scandal quite honestly.You can coach all you want but at the end of the day lads playing on a decent surface is far more important.

We play a team in our league on 4G & its a game of skill,not who can kick it the furthest in the mud.

Edit: The new Respect league is a great idea,teams converge on one central area which is 4G and play out their league games for the weekend on the surface over a day.The lads running those teams rave about the improvement seen in their kids.

 

[kp789]

After reading through some opinions in the thread on Englands football culture, it has got me wondering if any of you lot on here coach football as well as spectate? Thought this might be a nice idea to share coaching ideas, philosophies and drills etc, or discuss coaching issues.

I have been coaching for around 3 years now and am currently in California doing it right now. Looking forward to coming back and coaching in the UK again. It is my passion and something I wish to do professionally, but as I never played pro, I am already at a disadvantage. I have been invited into a number of championship clubs to observe the academy and first team sides, even managed to meet a city player out on loan! It was intriguing to see the difference in how sessions are run within academies in comparison to some of the 'old school' Sunday league guys.

I would like to kick off with a topic.

Firstly, I take my hat off to everyone who volunteers within football. They don't get paid for it and are ensuring that kids have the opportunity to play and progress within the game. But are some, doing more damage than good? Do not get me wrong, I am at no point criticising or attacking these volunteers. What I am questioning is whether we can proceed with the current state of affairs. One of the dad's goes off and does his FA level 1 and then is responsible for a major portion of his team and it's players footballing development, yet in most cases, they have next to know idea how kids learn, or take on information. Many do not run age appropriate drills, but revert back to what they 'used to do as a lad'. Is this one of the big reasons why the English game is failing? We are not concentrating at the source, the foundation of the game?

I am a fan of the Youth Modules that have been brought in. I have took the first 2 and will complete the award next year. These actually show you how to effectively coach kids as you learn about how each individual is different and how they learn, on and off the field (kinaesthetic, audial, visual learners etc) and how to deal with different personalities so that each child can receive the same level of learning. It also teaches about the appropriate way to speak and coach (Not yelling, overcoaching etc) So a positive learning environment can be created.
Should those who coach youth football, have to hold these as a pre-requisite? I appreciate that this could cause less to volunteer as many do not want to pay the money it takes to sit the course, but it would benefit the grass roots game to a large degree. The FA should make courses cheaper and more accessible.

Thoughts?

I coach an U14s team with another of the Dads.We have done it for 4 years and taken us from Div 2 to Div 1.If we win our games in hand we could go top.Punching above our weight though.

I did the Level 1 and it was very poor.Typical FA Course,awful in content,theory with no relevance imo.
I was sat there wondering if Argentinians do this sort of nonsense.

I think its hard enough to get anybody involved in coaching nowadays let alone take a load more qualifications.Im self employed and I struggle with time as it is.

The bigger issue for me is the lack of decent playing surfaces,its a scandal quite honestly.You can coach all you want but at the end of the day lads playing on a decent surface is far more important.

We play a team in our league on 4G & its a game of skill,not who can kick it the furthest in the mud.

Edit: The new Respect league is a great idea,teams converge on one central area which is 4G and play out their league games for the weekend on the surface over a day.The lads running those teams rave about the improvement seen in their kids.

Kudos to you for your involvement, my side back home is a u14's team also.

In comparison to the other courses I have done, the level 1 course taught me virtually zero about coaching. The youth modules were fantastic and once you go onto level 2, you see the real step up into 'proper' coaching, but I still think the course lacks the quality content that you can get abroad with the spanish or German courses. That said, I was incredibly lucky to have Barry Powell as the main course tutor (He came off the bench when we lost to wolves in the cup final and took great pleasure in telling me haha) He was fantastic and had played and coached the game. A lot of his own personal input was invaluable. I will be interested to see what the B licence will be like in comparison.

I agree that it is hard to get people to volunteer, but if you look at what happens and what drills are put on by unqualified coaches with good intentions, it is painful to watch. Part of my job is to observe and educate coaches in the US and some coaches, although fantastically passionate and great guys, with the best intentions, dont get me wrong, they do not understand the game, they are there because their child is in the team. I have seen dribbling taught by they coach saying 'Ok get a ball and dribble it around the field 3 times'. What does that teach?!? No technical detail, opposition or anything. I appreciate this is an extreme example but some english coaches back home who tell me they eat and drink the game are not much better, putting on drills that are 40 years outdated.

It is all good me bitching and moaning about the state of coaching, but I care about the game and i care that those that want to succeed have the best opportunity to do so and those that want to enjoy the game and play to the best that they can, will do and keep that passion for the game.

If you or anyone else needs any help for drills or coaching advice, give me a shout. I have done this full time for nearly 6 months, so I pretty much sleep with coaching drills going on in my head at the moment haha.

I agree in regards to the playing surfaces. In England they are overused, poorly kept and the large amount of rainfall does not help. I am pleased that the FA is planning to build a large amount of these 3G pitches, but I just hope that they are free to use or at the very least, highly subsidised and affordable.

 

[Tbilisi]

After reading through some opinions in the thread on Englands football culture, it has got me wondering if any of you lot on here coach football as well as spectate? Thought this might be a nice idea to share coaching ideas, philosophies and drills etc, or discuss coaching issues.

I have been coaching for around 3 years now and am currently in California doing it right now. Looking forward to coming back and coaching in the UK again. It is my passion and something I wish to do professionally, but as I never played pro, I am already at a disadvantage. I have been invited into a number of championship clubs to observe the academy and first team sides, even managed to meet a city player out on loan! It was intriguing to see the difference in how sessions are run within academies in comparison to some of the 'old school' Sunday league guys.

I would like to kick off with a topic.

Firstly, I take my hat off to everyone who volunteers within football. They don't get paid for it and are ensuring that kids have the opportunity to play and progress within the game. But are some, doing more damage than good? Do not get me wrong, I am at no point criticising or attacking these volunteers. What I am questioning is whether we can proceed with the current state of affairs. One of the dad's goes off and does his FA level 1 and then is responsible for a major portion of his team and it's players footballing development, yet in most cases, they have next to know idea how kids learn, or take on information. Many do not run age appropriate drills, but revert back to what they 'used to do as a lad'. Is this one of the big reasons why the English game is failing? We are not concentrating at the source, the foundation of the game?

I am a fan of the Youth Modules that have been brought in. I have took the first 2 and will complete the award next year. These actually show you how to effectively coach kids as you learn about how each individual is different and how they learn, on and off the field (kinaesthetic, audial, visual learners etc) and how to deal with different personalities so that each child can receive the same level of learning. It also teaches about the appropriate way to speak and coach (Not yelling, overcoaching etc) So a positive learning environment can be created.
Should those who coach youth football, have to hold these as a pre-requisite? I appreciate that this could cause less to volunteer as many do not want to pay the money it takes to sit the course, but it would benefit the grass roots game to a large degree. The FA should make courses cheaper and more accessible.

Thoughts?

I coach an U14s team with another of the Dads.We have done it for 4 years and taken us from Div 2 to Div 1.If we win our games in hand we could go top.Punching above our weight though.

I did the Level 1 and it was very poor.Typical FA Course,awful in content,theory with no relevance imo.
I was sat there wondering if Argentinians do this sort of nonsense.

I think its hard enough to get anybody involved in coaching nowadays let alone take a load more qualifications.Im self employed and I struggle with time as it is.

The bigger issue for me is the lack of decent playing surfaces,its a scandal quite honestly.You can coach all you want but at the end of the day lads playing on a decent surface is far more important.

We play a team in our league on 4G & its a game of skill,not who can kick it the furthest in the mud.

Edit: The new Respect league is a great idea,teams converge on one central area which is 4G and play out their league games for the weekend on the surface over a day.The lads running those teams rave about the improvement seen in their kids.

Kudos to you for your involvement, my side back home is a u14's team also.

In comparison to the other courses I have done, the level 1 course taught me virtually zero about coaching. The youth modules were fantastic and once you go onto level 2, you see the real step up into 'proper' coaching, but I still think the course lacks the quality content that you can get abroad with the spanish or German courses. That said, I was incredibly lucky to have Barry Powell as the main course tutor (He came off the bench when we lost to wolves in the cup final and took great pleasure in telling me haha) He was fantastic and had played and coached the game. A lot of his own personal input was invaluable. I will be interested to see what the B licence will be like in comparison.

I agree that it is hard to get people to volunteer, but if you look at what happens and what drills are put on by unqualified coaches with good intentions, it is painful to watch. Part of my job is to observe and educate coaches in the US and some coaches, although fantastically passionate and great guys, with the best intentions, dont get me wrong, they do not understand the game, they are there because their child is in the team. I have seen dribbling taught by they coach saying 'Ok get a ball and dribble it around the field 3 times'. What does that teach?!? No technical detail, opposition or anything. I appreciate this is an extreme example but some english coaches back home who tell me they eat and drink the game are not much better, putting on drills that are 40 years outdated.

It is all good me bitching and moaning about the state of coaching, but I care about the game and i care that those that want to succeed have the best opportunity to do so and those that want to enjoy the game and play to the best that they can, will do and keep that passion for the game.

If you or anyone else needs any help for drills or coaching advice, give me a shout. I have done this full time for nearly 6 months, so I pretty much sleep with coaching drills going on in my head at the moment haha.

I agree in regards to the playing surfaces. In England they are overused, poorly kept and the large amount of rainfall does not help. I am pleased that the FA is planning to build a large amount of these 3G pitches, but I just hope that they are free to use or at the very least, highly subsidised and affordable.

I wonder if we should go back 40 years,England team not too bad then? ;)

I think the training game is made far too complicated.

When I was a young lad I was in my third team at school.My Father ( who played in uniteds 1950 youth team ) got me to dribble round cones with a ball along with kicking a ball against a wall using left foot,right foot.

I improved no end,but took hours of my own time to do this.I got into the first team & better.
Not being a big head,I was crap with academic study so football was all I had.

I was reading an article from Glenn Hoddle about his training complex in Spain and low and behold he said he has his lads dribbling cones / ball against the wall as if they cant control a ball you cant hope to do any drills properly.

I advise my lads to do this in their own time and I know the ones that have done it over the years,they have moved from fringe players to first on the team sheet.

 

[Alex - City Matters]

My dad has been a coach here in Manchester, since I was under 9's. We're now Under 16's (but play in an under 17's division). The amount of effort he, and many others put in, is really admirable. IT takes so much hard work for such little notable rewards.
We've won numerous league title's, domestic cups and finally won the County Cup last year, (thanks to the Mcr FA for a great night playing at Curzon Ashton). We've got players at City, Oldham, Blackburn, Fleetwood, Bury and Bolton. At the moment we're looking to become a non-league teams youth squad. Currently had offers from three as of yet, so we the remaining lads should find a way into some form of decent football.
As another poster above me stated, the lack of good quality facilities is a large reason as to why we haven't succeeded nationally for some time. We have played on 3G pitches for some time now, the amount of games that would otherwise be cancelled on grass is remarkable. We've got 5 games before christmas, 3 of which are away. So, realistically we think we'll have 2 games in basically 2 months.
With the building of more 3G pitches, they'll hopefully be less games cancelled. Which means more football for everyone, which can only be a good thing?

 

[give it to gordon]

I ran a team from under 8's to under 12's until I was wrongly banned for 4 yrs !
I took players that ofter teams didnt want I was a quite coach not a shouter at matches I believed in letting the players learn the game though their mistakes and guidance before at half team and at the end of the match. I was send as a bit odd as I wouldnt scream and shout at the players during the match I wasnt a win at all cost coach I liked the players to learn different position, and not play little jonny at the back cos he was the biggest !. I have seen good players at 8yrs old only ever play at the back and when they are 15yrs they arent the biggest or the best at the back any more but dont know how to play in midfield.
Youth football is all about winning league matches thats why england play long ball football defenders are taught to just clear it because the coach wants to be able to walk into work and say my team won 10 nil, when in fact they just booted it to the fast kids up front !
My ban was for trying to stop bullying or team was called reserves we werent reserves we couldnt move to the other team in our club unless they were transferred over which took 3 weeks and costed £25. Other coaches would shout things like you should be beating this lot my more there only the *#*#ing reserve's . I got our second team names changed to youth to stop this but our league over ruled kent fa and called us reserves I moaned and with out me knowing I was banned for 4 yrs ! And it was upheld my kent fa !
I wrote to THE FA at soho and they looked into it and found I had done nothing wrong in fact kent fa were found to have changed some of the fa rules with out permission ! It took me a year and lots of letter's to clear my name. Did I go back into youth football not a chance its to bent for my liking
Most of my coaching was mostly small sided games lots of ball work every player had his own ball to use ! We used tennis ball to the cheap plastic balls, it was all about technique and learning to be comfy on the ball, but when we got to matches we played teams who play 100 miles an hour , long ball , other coaches who beat us would say you play the best football but you wont win many matches like that lol.
I think leagues should be stopped until under 14 at least , I did say I was send as odd !!!
Oh yea I did equal playing time to !
My level 1 was just turn up we were told you wouldnt fail you see charted standard clubs but it just a badge for the coach to put on his coat and the team to have it on the shirts

 

[Cellarite]

I coach an under 8's team and it's hard work but the rewards are immeasurable. We win about a third of our matches and struggle because we're a young team in that 9 out of 10 boys have their birthdays after Christmas.

I did the Level 1 course earlier this year and have to say I enjoyed it. Some of the drills and games learned on it are far better than dribbling a ball in and out of cones.

Some coaches take it far too seriously though and winning is all that matters. I have three or four players who are far superior to the others but prefer to give them all equal playing time or the lesser ability kids will never improve.

My weekends are consumed by it mostly but it's one of the best things I've ever done.

 

[kp789]

We emphasize pass and move with ball retention paramount, and the kids are really improving. I find a lot of the teams here are ethnic, Ukranian, Portuguese, Greek etc..and a lot of them still stick the biggest, fastest kid up front and play it long. Unfortunately, this works whilst the kids are developing as there is such a disparity in size as they mature at different rates. But I've found in our U13 boys that now the size is levelling off, our tactics and ability to actually play football are coming to the fore and our results are improving. The kid who used to score 50 goals a season based on size and speed is now much less effective and finds himself plying for weaker teams as he was never developed correctly.

It really is great when you see something youve practiced used and actually work in game. Great feeling.

This is the sad thing, the coaches are so obsessed with winning that they use such a tactic which sacrifices the development of the whole team for maybe 1 or 2 seasons success at playing 'like stoke'.

On the other hand, I shadow the sentiment of how great it is when you start to see kids improve and use what you have taught them in a game situation, even more so when the development and size of players equals out and those who have learnt how to play football properly come to the play and realise all their hardwork is paying off. At the same time, it is sad that the teams who kicked it to the big lad up front are now out of their depth due to their coach, no fault of their own.

 

[kp789]

I coach an U14s team with another of the Dads.We have done it for 4 years and taken us from Div 2 to Div 1.If we win our games in hand we could go top.Punching above our weight though.

I did the Level 1 and it was very poor.Typical FA Course,awful in content,theory with no relevance imo.
I was sat there wondering if Argentinians do this sort of nonsense.

I think its hard enough to get anybody involved in coaching nowadays let alone take a load more qualifications.Im self employed and I struggle with time as it is.

The bigger issue for me is the lack of decent playing surfaces,its a scandal quite honestly.You can coach all you want but at the end of the day lads playing on a decent surface is far more important.

We play a team in our league on 4G & its a game of skill,not who can kick it the furthest in the mud.

Edit: The new Respect league is a great idea,teams converge on one central area which is 4G and play out their league games for the weekend on the surface over a day.The lads running those teams rave about the improvement seen in their kids.

Kudos to you for your involvement, my side back home is a u14's team also.

In comparison to the other courses I have done, the level 1 course taught me virtually zero about coaching. The youth modules were fantastic and once you go onto level 2, you see the real step up into 'proper' coaching, but I still think the course lacks the quality content that you can get abroad with the spanish or German courses. That said, I was incredibly lucky to have Barry Powell as the main course tutor (He came off the bench when we lost to wolves in the cup final and took great pleasure in telling me haha) He was fantastic and had played and coached the game. A lot of his own personal input was invaluable. I will be interested to see what the B licence will be like in comparison.

I agree that it is hard to get people to volunteer, but if you look at what happens and what drills are put on by unqualified coaches with good intentions, it is painful to watch. Part of my job is to observe and educate coaches in the US and some coaches, although fantastically passionate and great guys, with the best intentions, dont get me wrong, they do not understand the game, they are there because their child is in the team. I have seen dribbling taught by they coach saying 'Ok get a ball and dribble it around the field 3 times'. What does that teach?!? No technical detail, opposition or anything. I appreciate this is an extreme example but some english coaches back home who tell me they eat and drink the game are not much better, putting on drills that are 40 years outdated.

It is all good me bitching and moaning about the state of coaching, but I care about the game and i care that those that want to succeed have the best opportunity to do so and those that want to enjoy the game and play to the best that they can, will do and keep that passion for the game.

If you or anyone else needs any help for drills or coaching advice, give me a shout. I have done this full time for nearly 6 months, so I pretty much sleep with coaching drills going on in my head at the moment haha.

I agree in regards to the playing surfaces. In England they are overused, poorly kept and the large amount of rainfall does not help. I am pleased that the FA is planning to build a large amount of these 3G pitches, but I just hope that they are free to use or at the very least, highly subsidised and affordable.

I wonder if we should go back 40 years,England team not too bad then? ;)

I think the training game is made far too complicated.

When I was a young lad I was in my third team at school.My Father ( who played in uniteds 1950 youth team ) got me to dribble round cones with a ball along with kicking a ball against a wall using left foot,right foot.

I improved no end,but took hours of my own time to do this.I got into the first team & better.
Not being a big head,I was crap with academic study so football was all I had.

I was reading an article from Glenn Hoddle about his training complex in Spain and low and behold he said he has his lads dribbling cones / ball against the wall as if they cant control a ball you cant hope to do any drills properly.

I advise my lads to do this in their own time and I know the ones that have done it over the years,they have moved from fringe players to first on the team sheet.

I do not disagree with what you are saying. These are the basic fundamentals of the game.

What are the best 3 things you can get a young kid to do with a football?

1.Play wallie, kicking it off the wall with his left and right foot from different distances, different power etc. This develops control, positioning, anticipation and of course, the use of BOTH feet which is often ignored but is absolutely crucial!

2. Keepy uppies and juggling the ball, this is invaluable to learn ball control skills and first touch.

3. Dribbling, whether it be in and out of cones etc.

These drills are fantastic in improving a player, especially at the sponge period of 8-12 when they are at a crucial stage of their development as a player. One issue however is that some find this all 'boring', so you can try to turn it into a competition (who did the most keep uppies at home this week?) If a kid says he did 1000, i tell him to show the whole team, when he cant get more than 15, they realise that they can't tell fibs.

Also, a good progression of those 3 fundamental drills is to do them all with a smaller ball. A size 3, a size 2, size 1, then a tennis ball. If you can do all that with a tennis ball, you will have no issue at all with a real ball.

From here, when we have players who can do all of this, it is at this point that we can go into more technical and tactical drills.

There is a big point I must make however. Today is not like back in the 70's or earlier when the only proper distraction kids had was football. Back then you could get a kid to kick a ball against a wall for an hour a day and he would probably find it fun. Nowadays they have xbox's and playstations, so good luck trying to get them to work on their skills for a significant amount of their own free time. As a result, we as coaches now have to develop drills in sessions to develop these skills. I think that many players are a little further behind on the fundemantal skills of 40 odd years ago due to this.