Rotation of players at seven a side

[mcolwell1959]

We won our league easily last season and gained promotion. We also reached the final of the District Cup. At the end of the season 3 players left and so i had to bring in 3 new players in to the squad of 11.

We have reached Christmas unbeaten and are top of the league, which is no mean achievement. It has been much harder work this season from my point of view, particularly as i play all 11 players, keeping on my 3 strongect players and rotating the others. I have also experimented playing boys in different positions to mixed results. I am rightly proud of what i and my assistance have achieved with these under tens but was wondering if anyone could help with some tips on the rotation of players in different positions. Someone may know the secrte to this rather than me using best judgement and just gambling a bit?

[Val]

These are still kids, so I think your best instincts are best. Plus gambling a bit. You just don't know how players are going to react to playing somewhere else on the field. Goalkeepers are frequently found by trial and error. Each of the past two seasons I have found girls who responded very well to being keeper. I think it has to do with being anchored between the sticks. Basically, you always know where you should be and some kids are more comfortable with using their hands. So I would be giving everyone time at keeper. And if you look over the How Did You Get On This Weekend thread, Darren's daughter is responding very well to playing defense after scoring 40 goals a season for the past three years. It caught him by surprise, and she's his daughter!

I don't know the secret, but I know that rotation works at this age and that it is better for the kids. I had one girl three years ago who I played mostly at defense and some midfield because she was my biggest kid on my co-ed team. Tough, no ball skills, but fearless. Last two games of the season I put her at forward and she had hat-tricks both games. Turns out playing/setting up 20 yards from goal really focused her. I'd never had believed it if I hadn't been on the sidelines.

Since it seems you've kept your core group together for two seasons now, you have the luxury of thinking long term. I'm starting a traveling team this year and should have the girls back from year to year. I'm going to tell each player that she will have two positions all season and that I'll rotate her even during the game between the two.