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U10 Guidelines

Framework for Player Development

U10-Development of Skill and Small Group Tactics

Soccer Definitions:
-Technique/Technical: A player’s ability with the ball, a certain skill set (dribbling, passing, shooting, receiving).  
-Tactics/Tactical: Decision Making (both individual decision making and group decision making).
-Dribbling: The art of keeping the ball close to you as you run or walk.
-Receiving: Settling, stopping, or directing the ball as it comes to you.
 
COACH: Coach must be enthusiastic and passionate. Must have the ability to demonstrate. Must be keen and sensitive as well as enjoy children. The coach must seek soccer education. Must respect the game and all who are involved with it. Focus on development rather than the result. Know more soccer rules.
 
TECHNIQUE: Continued development of individual technique. Ball juggling. All players must have a ball. Focus on dribbling to beat an opponent is still the #1 priority.  Control and receiving as well as passing skills should be heavily emphasized. Continued work on shooting. Activities must include lots of repetitions. Teach Goalkeeping skills. 75% of practice should be on technique. Encourage mastery of the ball. Left and right foot with everything.
 
TACTICS: Build on small group activities like 2v1, 2v2, 2v3, 3v3-both offensively and defensively. Teach some positional responsibilities but don’t spend a lot of time on it. Continue to rotate players in positions. Learn depth and cover as well as width. Teach throw-ins. Encourage flair and risk taking.
 
PHYSICAL: Introduce stretching and cool downs. They need full rest periods and plenty of water breaks. Prone to over heating and heat related injury. Players gaining better control over their bodies. They gain a lot of strength, endurance and power during this period. Some children will grow faster than others and can approach 5 feet and weigh upwards of 80 lbs. or more. Be aware of the differences and how you match them up with each other during activities.
 
MENTAL: Recognizes basic concepts of time and space but not always certain why. Their focus is on “me” and the “team.” Still in need of positive reinforcement. Want to belong to a group. Enjoy friends. Adults outside of the family are accepted. They will blame others. They are more sensitive and serious about playing. Feelings get hurt easily. They have the ability to remember and follow complex instructions, which enables them to solve higher-level problems. They will begin to think in advance and anticipate actions or ball movements.
 
SOCIAL: From a social perspective players will begin to initiate play on their own and are becoming more serious about their soccer. Peer group belonging and pressure generated by peers becomes more significant. The need to belong becomes important.
 
U10 Soccer Curriculum
 
U10
 
24 practices per season
            -14 dribbling practices
            -6 passing/receiving practices
            -2 shooting practices
            -2 1 v 1 defending practices
 
Areas of Focus (Technical)
      1.   Dribbling
             -Three aspects to dribbling past an opponent.
            a. Change of speed (from slow to fast).
            b. Change of direction.
            c. Moves/Deception with the ball.
                        -At U10, more focus should be placed on deception and creativity with the ball. A variety of moves should be introduced and consistently worked on at practice.

     2.   Receiving

     3.   Passing

     4.   Shooting

     5.   1 v 1 Defending

Areas of Focus (Tactical)
      1.   1 v 1 (decisions made on how/when/where to beat an opponent)
      2.   2 v 1
-To endlines (focuses on dribbling to score)
-To balls placed on cones (focuses on passing/shooting to score)
-To two small goals (focuses on passing/shooting and also decision making)
-To big goals (focuses on passing/shooting)
      3.   2 v 1 + 1
            -Same as #1
      4.   2 v 2
            -Same as #1
      5.   3 v 2
      6.   3 v 2 + 1
      7.   4 v 4

 

 

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