Under-age 7-a-side

[JHume]

I'm coaching a team at a U15 7-a-side next week.

Any advice on training drills in preparation for it?

And any advice on tactics for the games themselves.

I've chosen what I think is our best ten available players, including a couple U14s who are fitter and better ball players than some 15 year olds.

Certain counties have a good 7-a-side tradition, so any advice would be much appreciated.

[DownFanatic]

Put your best player in goals and change two players after every deadball that was a result of your team attacking.

[JHume]

Re the keeper: I must get them to understand the position as an outfield one.

What's the thinking behind changing 2 players after every scoring attack?

[Zulu]

I haven't played much 7's myself but I would think small sided games and plenty of 7 v 7 modified games would be the way to go for training. Tactically I'd suspect having a good target man up front who doesn't drift too far back would help stretch out your opponents when you have the ball and getting bodies back infront of goal to prevent goals when you don't would be things to consider.

On a side point I'd be a bit disappointed to hear you are playing u14's instead of u15's for this as those guys won't have the chance to play in it again. This competition isn't particularly important in the scheme of things afterall.

[DownFanatic]

Re the keeper: I must get them to understand the position as an outfield one.

What's the thinking behind changing 2 players after every scoring attack?

A lot of Down teams do it and Down are the best county in Ireland at playing 7's football so there must be some good in it.

[JHume]

I haven't played much 7's myself but I would think small sided games and plenty of 7 v 7 modified games would be the way to go for training. Tactically I'd suspect having a good target man up front who doesn't drift too far back would help stretch out your opponents when you have the ball and getting bodies back infront of goal to prevent goals when you don't would be things to consider.

On a side point I'd be a bit disappointed to hear you are playing u14's instead of u15's for this as those guys won't have the chance to play in it again. This competition isn't particularly important in the scheme of things afterall.

Thanks Zulu. Keeping a target man up front would make sense all right. I'll try that.

You're not wrong about playing younger players ahead of older players either. It's something I do in 15-a-side league games.

But the blitz next week is a divisional one, two groups of three to provide four semi-finalists. And then both finalists qualify for the regional finals, where the same schedule is followed with two qualifiers for the county finals.

We played last year with a team of mostly 15 year olds - even though they weren't all suited to the 7-a-side game. We lost both group games and went home after two matches. The finalists played four matches each at our divisional blitz, and then more matches at the regional blitz.

I want the maximum number of games. Better the squad with younger players get 6-12 games rather than sticking with the 15 year olds and (probably) only getting 2. And the best way to do that is to pick players more suited to the 7-a-side format. I expect to have three 14 yr olds and seven 15yr olds.

While there's lots of football at U14 and U16, U15 15-a-side comp in Donegal is a straight knock out. So we might only get one match there.

[JHume]

Re the keeper: I must get them to understand the position as an outfield one.

What's the thinking behind changing 2 players after every scoring attack?

A lot of Down teams do it and Down are the best county in Ireland at playing 7's football so there must be some good in it.

Indeed Down is the best at 7s. We'll give it a go.