7-a-side to 11-a-side...

[Leigh_LeamJuniors]

Hello all!... My names Leigh i'm 21! and i have an Under 10's team, we have 8 games left for the season but i'm already looking at moving to 11-a-side and our first 11-a-side friendly is next week!..

To give you a brief history on the team... We got together last summer, i had 8 players at the time but slowly by word of mouth more and more came along to training, unfortunally i had to be firm and turn away a few! we're now 10 games into the season and have 13 players, alot for 7-a-side team but my intention was always for next year.. i did'nt want to be short of players... Anyway, we had a shakey start winning 1 loosing 4 and 1 draw but we've now leveled out and have won our last 4 and drawed with a couple of higher divison teams!.. None of the lads had played football before, well only down the park or at school but i have some real talent within the squad, 2 fantastic central defenders, 2 lightning quick goal scoring wingers, a hard tackling central midfielder and the old Niall Quinn, Kevin Phillips combo upfront not to mention probally the best goal keeper in the district (whos already attracting attension from the "bigger" teams)... I involve the parents with everything, there mad for it and from what i understand really think i've turned these bunch of boys into a team... i could go on and on cus' i mad for working with kids, but i'll only bore you!...

So, my problem is this.... i've taught kids between 6 and 10 since i left school but now going into 11-a-side is a daughting step for me and a big learning curve!... Whats the best way to approch and manover these kids from thinking 7-a-side to 11-a-side?.. of course i will start from the back and work foward...

Any input/advice is welcome... i guess im looking more for pointers rather than actual drills...

Many thanks...

[ian.curry]

It's not that difficult really, and not daunting either - well it shouldn't be anyway.
I did this 4/5 years ago when I was 19. Pick an formation you wish to play(often 4-4-2). Give them jobs to do related to their position in the game 0 eg wingers taking corners, full backs take throw ins etc.
Don't be concerned about offside. Tell the defence that if it is their man, it's their fault - nobody else's for 'playing him onside'. Strikers just need to watch their line a little bit, try not to keep on at them about it, they wil learn.

Enjoy it, have fun, and try as many players in as many different positions as possible during your friendlies.

[Jed McCoy]

Hi i agree with previous ....however i always looked at working three seperate units which took the focus of eleven v eleven and got them working as individual units to start with explaining job roles individually and the importance within there defensive ubit for example....i live in evesham so we are not far apart i would like to come and watch some time let me no when you play all the best....Jed

[Jerzy]

I'll be doing the same, only going from 8v8 to 11v11, next fall.

Seems like you and your kids have done well, shaking off that poor start and figuring out how to play 7v7. You said they hadn't played organized soccer, right. So you must have some innate ability to communicate with kids. I wouldn't sweat it too much. You can tell your kids that they are going to be playing on a bigger field, so positions do start to matter. At the smaller field sizes, athletic and fast kids can more easily dominate because they can cover the whole field. Now, by contrast, they won't be able to do so, so how they work with their teammates starts becoming more important. I'm going to focus on width more this spring in preparation for the fall. Partly this is good soccer, but my kids are behind the 8 ball, ball-skills wise, and we need to create time for ourselves on the ball.

Good luck with your team. Frustrating to have too many players, but more frustrating to have too few. I thought the English FA had mandated smaller sides for U10s, though. How are finding 11v11 for U10s?

[Leigh_LeamJuniors]

Many thanks for the replys!.. I have to agree that the pitch size is going to be a huge factor already... There are a few teams in the area with an outstanding 2/3 players who do absolutly everything covering all the pitch, personally i hate it when coaches make the team play around 2 people... We are training tommoro and i will be brining in the first ever 11-a-side excercies, basically working on defending as a unit and the midfield attacking as a unit, with the strikers helping out... I naturally have a player who will hold inbetween the D's as insurance which is good, considering he's got a hammer of a right foot..

I guess its all about the basics first, like ian mentioned throwins ect.. dont confuse them from the first step...

Great!..

[mcolwell1959]

Hi,

i am under ten level now at seven a side going up to eleven a side next season. We are top of the league going for promotion to the premier league and are in the quarter finals of the district cup. Therefore i cant really go too much in to eleven a side yet as i dont want to confuse them so as to effect performance yet. However you can work on things that cover both seven a side and eleven a side. A good tip on this website was to play some overload games and drills, i.e. 3 v1, 4 v 2, 6 v 3 etc. There will be lots of space on a junior 11 a side pitch at under 11 age level and so you will get these situations occurring. I would suggets you go and watch some under 11 matches now to see how it works in reality for boys of that age. There is still a bit of the season to go so you should be able to do that. This will teach you a lot. I learnt stuff doing that.

I think offside does not need a lot of coaching so dont get hung up about that as some do. It does come with a bit of practice.

Good luck M

[ian.curry]

I could add that if you have the squad size yet(14-18), then mini soccer games are pretty much what you do in training for matches.
You can't train 11v11 really, unless you have another team spare......

Cowell, your team is doing great, and as above, mini soccer is the numbers you'll have per team for training 11 aside. Don't worry about performance/results etc what's left of mini soccer, they've achieved brilliantly already and giving them a head start at 11aside tactics won't do them any harm at all.
Good luck for the rest of the season.

[TAC]

Hi, Just a quick note. Matt Crocker, Southampton FC Academy director has written an article on this in this months issue of Total Youth Football magazine. So if you are an English coach, i'd suggest having a read!

[mcolwell1959]

Hi,

i've seen the article in TYF and it makes sense. The coaching book by the West Ham director of youth football that you advertised previously on this website is good for 11 a side stuff as well.

As under tens we are now finding the goals a bit small and it is hard work beating good keepers. This will chaneg when we go 11 a side next season as the opportunity to lob the keeper will become common place.

[mcolwell]

Returning to this subject, my team are struggling with the change. We got promoted to our disrict premier league thanks to our success at 7 a side. Now that we play 11 a side we have struggled to recruit additional players of the same ability and so our play had become rushed and not passing orientated. I will continue to work with them on passing and movment and composure on the ball. but does anyone have any suggetsions that may help?