Underage Coaching

[Smokin Joe]

Cheers Zulu.  That's a great practical drill.

Anyone one else?

[Zulu]

Yerra, I'm not doing anything else -

4 zones 3 player, warm up -

Make a box divided into four smaller squares with 3 players. Each player must be in one of the smaller squares on their own, which means you always have one square empty. You have to pass the ball to a teammate and then move into the free square so players are passing and then moving into the empty square. You can develop into they must hop and/or solo before moving, roll for low catch, throw high for high catch etc. to work on skills but the key is they must always move into the free square after they've passed.

3 v 1 -

Same idea as above but now a defender tries to stop passes and attacking players are not allowed to be in same square as each other so while they don't have to move to the free square they usually will and you can encourage them to do so.

Same grid as the others but this time you have an attacker and defender in each of the four squares (make big enough for two players so do that at the start rather than changing box sizes for each game) and one floating attacking player. To score the floater must play a give and go in each square with the other four attackers so basically there's a give and go in each of the four squares with one guy moving between all the squares (the floater).

Rebounders -

Make a square with four different coloured sides, i.e a yellow, red, blue and white side marked out with cones of those colours. Inside the square you can have a 3 v 3 or 4 v 2 (whatever suits your players ability) and one player outside on each side of the square. The players on the outside can move along their line but not move to another line. To score the attacking team must pass to and get back from, each of the four players on the outside. This gets the players inside to think about getting the ball to the periphery of the pitch and not standing after a pass. You can make a rule that the player who passes to the player on the outside can't be the player who gets it back thus getting players off the ball to think about supporting off someone else's pass. The reason I would have four different coloured sides is you can coach by saying must get to blue side still or switch to white etc. Just makes it easier for kids to understand what you mean.

[downtown]

Hi I'm just throwing this in here as related . So was wondering if there are any coaches out there that would come into a club and take a few sessions with an underage team , say u12 to minor, whichever with the coaches also in attendance . That would zone in in a certain area of the game , say man marking , high fielding etc ? Any feedback appreciated thanks

[screenexile]

Not sure of the right spot to put this so just posting it here...

Saw a video online (it was American) about sport asking why we make kids choose what sport they want to do and make it competitive from the age of 12-18??

It's sport for all below that and from 18 on you can play beer league in America or Lads and Dads in the GAA. Should the GAA be looking at an option for recreational teams from U14-U20.

Then there's an option for kids to enjoy the game training once a week and a game at the weekend. You can also let those who want the competition join the arms race of 3-4 times a week with extra gym sessions to try and win a championship and push towards senior.

[trueblue1234]

Not sure of the right spot to put this so just posting it here...

Saw a video online (it was American) about sport asking why we make kids choose what sport they want to do and make it competitive from the age of 12-18??

It's sport for all below that and from 18 on you can play beer league in America or Lads and Dads in the GAA. Should the GAA be looking at an option for recreational teams from U14-U20.

Then there's an option for kids to enjoy the game training once a week and a game at the weekend. You can also let those who want the competition join the arms race of 3-4 times a week with extra gym sessions to try and win a championship and push towards senior.

Would you get enough numbers for a recreational team at those ages? Maybe some of the bigger clubs but I'd say a lot would struggle unless you're going down to 7 aside level. Many a recreational player has lined out at 15 for u14 sides when needs must.

[Captain Scarlet]

From a small rural parish and we were lucky to have a solid team with no real stars but no lads just hiding in the corner. We had two serious lads who were playing a year or two up.

I think at bigger clubs there are enough teams to keep lads ticking over. The real issue is Minor and when they head to college. Even if clubs opened the pitches and played inhouse mess games once a week it'd be useful.

[Armagh18]

Not sure of the right spot to put this so just posting it here...

Saw a video online (it was American) about sport asking why we make kids choose what sport they want to do and make it competitive from the age of 12-18??

It's sport for all below that and from 18 on you can play beer league in America or Lads and Dads in the GAA. Should the GAA be looking at an option for recreational teams from U14-U20.

Then there's an option for kids to enjoy the game training once a week and a game at the weekend. You can also let those who want the competition join the arms race of 3-4 times a week with extra gym sessions to try and win a championship and push towards senior.

Would you get enough numbers for a recreational team at those ages? Maybe some of the bigger clubs but I'd say a lot would struggle unless you're going down to 7 aside level. Many a recreational player has lined out at 15 for u14 sides when needs must.

Aye great idea in theory but likely the numbers arent there.

[marty34]

They'd just play 5-a-side soccer.