How long to spend on 1 player

[skowee]

Hi all

I took a session last night coaching a under 11 team short passing. I had 12 players in 3 groups of 4 playing around a square 10yds x 10yds. Firstly I had them just passing across the square to any body that wanted to receive the ball. I then had them passing to either end of their line (still in a square) so that they had to incorporate movement. Then we went on to 3 players on the outside of the square and 1 defender pressuring the ball. This eventually led to a SSG of 4v4 with 2 end zones.
My problem was that because they were of such mixed ability, there was 1 player that couldn't get the basic side foot pass correct. I showed him 4 or 5 times with him giving me a demo after every time, when he eventually did get it right I moved on to the next group only to turn around minutes later and he was making the same mistakes again, so it was back to this player with another 4 or 5 demo's and move on. I know that certain players are not going to get things spot on straight away, so my question is how long do you spend coaching one player in a 1 hour session. I could have probably spent the whole hour with this one player but that would have meant neglecting the other 11. They say on the courses that it is no good progressing to a skill if they haven't mastered the technique but some of them got the session while others were quite a way behind. So do you carry on hoping that the weaker players catch up and the better players keep their interest or do you do it the other way round.

[Val]

Welcome to the world of teaching. There are, unfortunately, no easy answers, and I say this as a father of a son who is that one kid in his class of 17 in third grade. Balancing the plans and goals of the group against the needs of a single child is the hardest of tightropes to walk. I fully understand where you are coming from.

The problem is that you could spend the whole hour with him, and you'd have to spend the whole hour with him again the next week, too. He may not be up to snuff, soccerwise. So, you have to make accomodations for him. To use your lesson plan (the progression is very nice, BTW), here is how I do my practices. If I had those four squares (I use triangles for this same purpose), I would be participate and have kids switch into my square so that I am modeling and seeing them first hand, and the kids can get a chance to play at the speeds I want. Then I send them to other squares to model and get going to the speeds I want. For this case, I would keep the slower child with me for the length of the drill so that you are always there, but rotating kids into the mix so you have a chance to see them all.

I have found one game that I can let the kids play by themselves and that they will stay focused on and that is wallball, which I describe in my Girl's League Blog, but I have the girls play that for 15 minutes on my Thursday practice and that is a time that I can give one-on-one training/help to players who might need it.

Good luck...

[74offsuit]

The goal here is to improve that player. It sounds as if you achieved this. Many players will not master what you have coached, this is fine. Small steps, small steps.....

A very good story from an FA coach tutor.

During a session, there was a lad who was struggling to get the skill, and he was beginning to get a little upset. At the end of the session the coach brought the player out and said to him:-

"You may not get this today, that's fine, you may not get this tomorrow, that's fine, but one day, I guarantee, you will get it, and that is all that matters"