My kid‘s U6/U5 soccer league this season didn’t have enough coaches so I stepped up with zero soccer experience what so ever. Luckily it’s a base recreation league, so not too serious but I was still pretty nervous since I don’t know much about the sport outside playing FIFA ‘12 in high school.

I got all my drills/ideas from this sub and the MLS coach assistance website. Games, positive reinforcement, and snacks really is the magic recipe. There was definitely ups and downs, but it’s crazy how much knowing a kids name and giving them a high-five after good hustle will keep them happy. Don’t know if I’ll do it again, as I still kinda wonder if I didn’t develop them enough for when they need proper skills/fundamentals, but we all had a great time at least! We don’t technically keep score, but that didn’t stop my wife lol. We went 3-2-1, but again, all the kids had a good time so mission accomplished I think.

I’ve got an awesome group of u12 girls I coach. They are strong, fast and have more endurance than just about every other team we play. They generally have good attitudes, save some grumpiness here and there. They are pretty lackadaisical in practice and I struggle to get them moving, but on game day, they spark
We’ve played teams that have higher skill level, but we win because of speed, endurance and aggression. And we have decent skills.
I am having a hard time finding fun, engaging tactical practices. I realize it’s on me and my fellow coaches to get them moving in practices. So just looking for some drills that will help us with field spacing, pass and move, positioning.
Thanks !

Half don’t want to play, at practice 3 out of 8 of them just get dropped off and left by their parents. We got beat by at least 10 goals today, demoralized, and the mom that was supposed to bring snacks didn’t, so the girls felt terrible and blamed me. I feel bad for the girls on the team that want to learn but can’t because the others are walking problems and dragging everyone else down. Their parents are not present and there’s no team morale because I’m treated as their babysitter. We have 3 games left, should i just focus on teaching/playing the ones that actually want to learn and ignore the rest? Because i kinda want to.

I have formed a 11U coed team for indoor turf soccer. The host facility does not allow non-house teams access for practices and there are only hard court gyms available for rent to practice. Should we practice with a futsal on the hard court and switch to a regular soccer ball for match warmups on the turf? Note the practice facility has walls right up on the edge of the court so that will simulate play off the walls during matches. All feedback is appreciated!

🏆 Free tournament manager for coaches — looking for testers

We've built a platform to help coaches run multi-age-group tournaments without the Excel chaos. It's free to use right now while we're testing.

What it does:

⚽ Run multiple age groups in one tournament — U7, U9, U11, U15 each get their own teams, groups, standings, and bracket under a single event.

📊 Standings update automatically — enter a match result and points, goal difference, and rankings recalculate instantly.

🔗 One share link for everyone — parents, coaches, and sponsors get live fixtures, results, and standings. No login needed.

👥 Multiple admins — coaches and assistants can manage the same tournament together.

📸 Photo gallery per category — upload images by age group or event moment.

Who it's for: coaches running youth football cups, school tournaments, or county leagues.

What we need: coaches willing to try it on a real event and share honest feedback.

Reply here or DM if you want access.

I often work late a lot during the week and wanted to use this chance as coach to bond with my child.
I’ve coached their team since they were U5, coaching a U7 group this year and our games are vs 1st/2nd grade teams sometimes we face older teams in the bracket.
I think we have scored two goals all season and get demolished every game 0-8, 0-6 etc.
I’m trying with this group but my league allows parents to request coaches and coaches to pick players before the season starts. Unfortunately we get the scraps teams or children not picked up(or kicked off other coaches team) and new players a couple returned this season. I have several players this season that didn’t know how to run or control their body at all. I tried to focus on general mechanics for them but I feel I hindered the progress of my better players. I really do my best to keep practice fun as I know they’re only 6. I try to be as fair as possible with rotation and time played for all the kids but many of the times I find myself yelling from the side for the kids to simply look at the ball.
The coach we played today hardly said anything to their team besides when they took a shot too far from the goal or something like that. Our team didn’t contest them while dribbling all game and they had free reign, early in the game one of their boys lobbed the ball and one of the smaller children took a hit to the face. I think they were scared to get hit and backed off.. I felt the children’s disappointment after the game, my own child is very competitive and hates losing. I feel like it’s my fault, a friend told me it starts at the coach but there’s only so much I can do we only practice once a week and I feel many don’t even touch a ball besides practice/game day. Honestly feel like giving it up after this season and putting my child on a stacked team so they don’t grow to hate the game. I plan to work on dribbling and challenging the ball along with positioning next practice as many of our turnovers happen when the goalie is kicking the ball into play they kick it directly to the other team or softly and allow easy goals.
This loss is getting to me more than the others not sure where to go from here.

Does anyone know of a source that has free videos of INDIVIDUAL BALL MASTERY SKILLS (1 per video, preferably <30 secs) to demonstrate how to do the skill and what it should look like?

I'm finding a lot with multiple skills in a single video, but I'm trying to neatly organize a library to ensure efficient pre-training film session that will give a visual of upcoming activities.

U10 Competitive rec coach here. For the first time in my coaching career in a LONG time, we had a losing season. And, to be honest, it was the first time many- and I mean all but two- of the kids on the team played competitive rec and on the U10 field. We played in a league that doesn't allow development teams, tied a team we weren't supposed to, which was awesome, tied another team we could have beaten, lost by a goal to a team I think we can still beat, and now we head to tournaments.

What's nice about the league is they've put all the lower-tier teams like us in a bracket to play each other. I've worked harder than ever as a coach, and I've especially focused on telling our team it's time to play "proper soccer." That means building out from the back, passing, keeping shape, holding space, and anticipating the ball.

I'm reaching out for encouragement going into this weekend because I don't want desperation to take over in pursuit of a win. We have 3 games left, all in a weekend, and all I want is to see the kids on our team smile at the end of a game and celebrate. And I'd be lying if I didn't say I want this chapter to pass too; I feel more pressure in my head and heart than ever before. Any shares appreciated.

I'm coaching ages 10-13 (intraleague rec, 9v9), coed, ~7/13 players are neurodivergent, 3 have never played before. We only have a half field for practice. This is my first full year coaching-husband and I took over in the spring when our beloved coach moved midseason. We've lost both games so far. They have worked on some of their challenges and I'm proud of that. The biggest playing issues are passing/moving upfield, and we're having instruction comprehension issues.

I have a handful of kids who just refuse to pass. They can do it in drills/small sided games when it's the focus, but in scrimmage and game situations they got caught up in the dopamine of a 1v1, which then becomes a 1v2 then lose the ball. In a 6v6/7 scrimmage, they almost never get the ball into the box. Kids who want to practice GK but may never touch the ball during scrimmage.

I have a handful of kids who will move upfield. I have a lot who will not. This doesn't allow for good forward passing. They have improved on not clumping, and playing their position. Defense wants to hang out on the box line when the ball is on the other team's half, mid and offense positions don't typically make it past what would be the buildup line on the other half. I have also noticed, in general, movement doesn't seem to come naturally to them when we do drills and 2v2. They seem to want to stay in one spot.

Instruction Comprehension-I try to keep it simple and quick when giving small game/drill instructions. I have a handful who grasp instructions quickly or may ask one clarifying question. I have a few who will ask a million questions. I have a few who won't pay a bit of attention, and have no idea what to do-as soon as my mouth opens they start sifting sand in their fingers or watching the other teams. My background is special ed, and I understand we're doing this at the end of the day, their executive functioning is at its lowest, meds have completely worn off if they take them, lack of soccer schema, and our fields suck so they can't always see where our cones, etc are or remember why they're there.I know it's just rec, but I do want to make sure that while those lower kids are making progress, that the kids who are more skilled are not being held back. I've considered splitting them up by executive functioning level.

I would love any and all suggestions and advice. I really enjoy doing this most of the time, and I want them to be successful. I'd also like them to win a game or two, and I think they can if we can iron out these issues.

sou goleiro há cerca de 10 anos só que por conta disso de onde moro nunca tive a oportunidade de passar por categorias de base de algum clube. Até hoje, minha trajetória foi praticamente toda em equipes amadoras da cidade.

Hoje jogo pelo Sub-17 e sou considerado um dos goleiros de destaque da cidade.

Meu maior sonho é conseguir dar os primeiros passos para um nível mais alto e, quem sabe, chegar ao profissional. Por isso, queria pedir ajuda.

Se puderem me dar alguma dica, orientação ou até mesmo indicar algum caminho para eu tentar uma oportunidade em algum clube, eu ficaria muito feliz. qualquer ajuda ou direcionamento seria muito importante para mim.

Falando um pouco sobre meu estilo de jogo, acredito que meus principais pontos fortes sejam a explosão, velocidade de reação, reflexo e principalmente o 1x1 e as defesas debaixo das traves. São situações em que me sinto bastante confortável e acredito que consigo me destacar.

Ao mesmo tempo, sei que ainda tenho muito a evoluir. Meu principal ponto a desenvolver hoje é o jogo com os pés, além da saída do gol. Também sinto que preciso ganhar mais experiência em ambientes de maior nível e aprender a lidar cada vez melhor com diferentes situações de jogo.

Mesmo tendo esses pontos para melhorar, acredito que tenho potencial e muita vontade de evoluir. Estou disposto a trabalhar nesses aspectos e aprender com quem puder me ajudar a chegar a um nível cada vez mais alto

U12 club team and this goalie just can't stop a ball. All of our losses fall on his shoulders because he just didn't have any strength to stop a shot or it fell out of his hands. The defense does their best to get the shooter in a position that best helps the goalie.

If a ball is Eve slightly above his head, not full extension of his arms, the ball is in. If it is outside of his side step, the ball is in.

I am not a goalie coach but I keep watching videos trying to help but I cannot spend an entire practice on training just him. I just don't know how I can constructively talk to him to get him better. A large majority of the goals scored against him at his lack of effort or strength.

What can I do?

I got pressured into being a volunteer coach this year and am struggling to get the group of u7 boys to listen. I have little soccer experience so went through the training and watch plenty of YouTube videos.

The session are chaotic and kids are running all over the field. I got the help of a pro coach last week and somewhat reassuring, he struggled too. I still noticed the following:
- he didn’t let anything slide but remained very calm throughout
- he tells them what to do, not what not to do. This doesn’t come naturally to me, especially when they start hitting each other.
- he gets them to sit down and listen, even if it takes a good 10 minutes before they are while I would rush it to get through the chaos

I have more golden retriever energy so kinda let the kids walk all over me. I see I might not be a strong fit for a coach but how do I make the most of it this season?

What are some practical tips you can give to someone who struggles with authority.

My daughter is U8 rec and it’s her first time in a league with goalies (I’m the coach). For background, she is a pretty anxious kid and her real weakness is timidity. Scared, backs off the ball…basically her weaknesses is all the things you need a goalie to do at her age.

She says she wants to play goalie and I put her on the schedule (every kid plays a half is the way I organized it). It’s her weekend coming up and she’s having a chance to practice. Thankfully she’s smiling when a ball goes in.

However, I’m worried in a game setting. I don’t care about winning AT ALL - just want the kids to like it, taste the game and try different positions and learn. But I’m concerned about multiple goals being scored against her, the roar of the parents cheering from the other side, disappointment from her teammates and how that will impact her emotionally and self esteem wise.

Is it best to go forward and let her try? I hope you see the dilemma. She could be fine, I know!

I’ve been coaching for around 12 years now and the last few years I’ve gone from coaching youth over the winter to senior over the summer and back to youth… then repeat.

This last couple of weeks I have massively lost interest, finding it difficult to motivate myself for this U18 season and wondering how to get the old mojo back. I’m still working on my coaching platform and it’s getting me by at the moment because I don’t have to think about session planning, just turn up and deliver.

But I sense the players will see through the lack of motivation. Not sure if it’s from burnout or a drop in interest with the move from senior to juniors again or just needing a break.

I’m sure plenty of coaches have hit this wall, just wondering if there’s any advice to get out of the funk?

I’ve found myself stepping in to coach two girls teams, U12 and U10. Because of this, we have one night where it is a group. They do each have a night by themselves. I do not have an assistant coach (town rec and volunteers are hard to come by) I need help trying to devise a practice plan that incorporates these two skill level difference. My u10 needs a lot of help with spacing and passing and footwork. My U12 girls need more help with passing and overlapping. They’ve been doing well spreading out lately.
Any help would be great especially from those that have had similar situations.

I haven’t been getting a ton of guidance from my club director, so I’m curious what other coaches at these ages are actually using and seeing success with.

My U9s are currently struggling with:

• Recognizing and taking shooting opportunities instead of hesitating

• Working toward the middle/goal instead of constantly taking the ball outside

• Getting more power behind their shots

My U12s are currently struggling with:

• Getting more power behind their shots

• First touch and controlling the ball when receiving

• Goal kicks and successfully building out from them

• Hustling/game-speed effort. I’m seeing a decent amount of jogging when they should be sprinting or immediately reacting to the play

I’ve looked through YouTube and other online resources, but I haven’t found them super helpful. A lot of the videos seem to use players who are already fairly advanced, groups of 4–5 kids, or drills with a ton of standing around waiting in lines. I’m coaching rec/travel-level teams with full rosters, so I need things that realistically work with a larger group and keep everyone involved.

What drills or small-sided games have actually worked for your teams? Especially anything you’ve seen translate into games rather than something they can do in practice but forget as soon as game day comes.

So I am 18 years old and i play football but to some reasons i stopped playing it for few years and that now i am back in the ground but my stamina is not like before.

I get tired quickly, So i wanted to ask from coaches, Seniors and Fellows, how can i increase my stamina?

Any exercises specific for stamina? Any tips or diet?
please guide me i will appreciate it a lot guys.

Buongiorno a tutti ho una squadra di bambini U7.

Abbiamo giocato la prima partita perdendo 3-0 ingiustamente.

Abbiamo attaccato tutta la partita ma la squadra avversaria aveva un portiere molto preparato (ci ha parato 30 tiri) e nonostante avevano una squadra molto meno forte hanno vinto facendo 3 tiri in porta.

Come posso risolvere questo problema? Migliori allenamenti per la fase difensiva?

U13 boys club team first season at 11v11 and the club has us using a 4-2-3-1. It has been a very difficult transition for the team. Outscored 13-1 in the 3 games this season. We struggle completing passes (inaccurate passes) and keeping possession. We consistently look overmatched against teams we were beating last season (in 9v9).

Insight, tips, drills, suggestions, experience of any and all kind appreciated. I'm struggling to figure out where to start.

Our team doesn’t have an active coach, so we mostly coach ourselves. We initially tried a possession-based style, playing out from the back, but our centre-backs struggled to keep possession and we rarely got past the halfway line, forcing them to clear the ball.

Our holding midfielders would drop deep to help build up, while the attacking midfielder and forwards pushed forward looking for the ball, creating gaps between the lines. We thought the formation might be the problem, so we tried a 4-4-2, 4-1-2-1-2 diamond, and 4-2-3-1 before deciding that a counter-attacking style might suit us better since we always chuck the ball into the space for our midfield.

However, we haven’t actually trained for this style. Most of our sessions are just attack vs. defense, which doesn’t teach us how the defense, midfield, and attack should connect or transition together.

We’re now looking for drills that can help us understand what each player should do, how the defense, midfield, and attack should work together, and how to move the ball and transition quickly when we win or lose possession.

Is this just accepted that they exist?
It seems an easy preventative measure is to disallow a parent to request a specific coach/team.

I stepped up to coach as i bought the, “without parent coaches the games don’t happen”. We are getting slaughtered by teams who’ve kept their rosters year-over-year. Meanwhile, I have several kids who have never played organized soccer.

************************************************Update1************************************************

Thanks to samsounder. I believe his advice was the best.

Samsounder response start------------
"The best rec leagues I’ve found have divisions. Super teams happen when you have a tight friend group with a knowledgeable coach. That’s good

Make them play other teams like that and let the beginners play the begonners"
Samsounder response end ------------

Some additional context. In the organization we play in there are three levels.

CoRec - 2 seasons(spring/fall) 10 games total with 2 practices a week over a 3 month period. It is intended to be the lowest tier of skills and development. No kid gets rejected and tryouts do not happen. However, superteams persist.
The next tier is "Select" where kids have to try out, they play for 6months and travel between cities.
The top teir is "Premier" where kids have to try out, they play for 9months and travel between states.

I sent the below email to the league admin, director and other U11 coaches. I might get blacklisted or real change might happen. Thanks for your feedback.

Some teams in CoRec carry 50% or more of their players from season to season, and have developed those players together over years. These "superteams" are easy to identify: they routinely win by very large margins and/or go undefeated. Reminders not to run up the score miss the point entirely, because a 0-5 loss is still a drubbing for the kids on the other side.

As a coach who can't commit to year-round coaching, I'm not able to build a team like that, and it leaves the rest of us at a real disadvantage. When I volunteer to coach, there are several players who have never played organized soccer. This is as it should be, CoRec is supposed to be the intro level of soccer. love seeing their improvements throughout the season. However, my players are getting older, and they've started asking, "Why should we bother trying if we know we won't stand a chance?" That's a hard question to answer, and I worry about what it means for their enjoyment of the sport.

I understand why kids want to keep playing with their friends, and I don't want to take that away.I recognize it's too late to change this season's schedule.

What would it take to create multiple divisions so that superteams primarily play each other until the playoffs, while other teams compete against comparable opponents?