16 Mar 2016 10:54:12
Morning ED01, your help if possible. I help coach an U11 boys football team and wondered if you knew any helpful books that are worth reading about coaching kids football?

{Ed001's Note - off the top of my head no, but I will ask some youth coaches. In the meantime it might be worth looking at the LFC training bible link on here. I posted it up and it is the handbook used by the club academies around the world, full of training drills etc. It is lengthy though but well worth a download to look at it properly and make it usable for your team.}

1.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 11:12:11
Thank you very much ED01 I'll download it now. I have been told about a guy called David Clarke but you have to subscribe to get any info!

{Ed001's Note - I don't know him sorry. I would suggest getting yourself on LinkedIn and trying to get some contacts there who can help though.}

2.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 12:19:38
Inverting the pyramid by Jonathan Wilson.

3.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 12:23:29
Hey Mate, great place to start coaching. At there age it's drilling basic skills and the fundamental aspects of ball control etc, it's also when they start to really develop an understanding of how the game flows, how to read the game, the pitch, the opposition and most importantly their team mates.

Lots of good books that contain different drills and skill trading sessions, and there's hundreds out there with different titles but all contain pretty similar drills, for this most Youth Development Coaching books will have what you need, look for one with lots of diagrams and drawings/ pictures that you can then show your lads.

At this age it's about getting the information into them and being able to communicate it in a way they understand and enjoy, no point boring the witless as they won't take it in, let's Talk Soccer is a good read for this aspect.

Here's a few that if you can get your hands on are worth the time reading.
The Blueprint for Football series.
Legacy by James Kerr.
Inverting the pyramid by Jonathan Wilson
Make the ball roll by Ray Power
Developing Game intelligence by Horst Wein
Developing an Elite Coaching Philosophy by Tim Lees.

There's also countless resources for books or text documents from the different FA's around Europe that are easily available that contain the drills and systems of play, game management, player management, player development, fitness and prevention of injurys, these are available online or by contacting the FA directly, the German and Belgian text documents are unreal in there depth and explanation, they do cost a bit if you want it sent as a printed document as there thousands of pages and they charge for a computer to translate it to English before printing but if your serious it's well worth it.

Good Luck with it all, it's a great way to be a part of the game and you might find in a few years you can't live without it. I'm heading home in May, so if your about on here we can maybe try to catch up and I can give you a heap of stuff you might get a bit out of.

4.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 13:24:05
Its posters like you, Jaxman, that keep me coming back to this site (as well as the Edwards, of course! ) .

:) :) :)

5.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 13:45:13
Where is this training bible?

I've tried searching but can't see it anywhere, just people talking about it.

Cheers in advance.

{Ed033's Note - There is a link further up this page underneath the video

Liverpool Training Bible

6.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 14:12:07
I already struggle to live without football (so my wife tells me anyway)!
The boys have done really well this year but were promoted a few weeks back into a division full of A Teams and we are named as a B Team! so before we even got chance to start playing them some of the boys got their heads down thinking they were going to get beat every week, and I know the result doesn't matter as much @ U11 but with the boys it's very different!
So i was looking @ trying to change it a little bit so they stay positive!
Anyway thank you very much JaxMan I'll hunt that information down.

{Ed001's Note - they will respond to your enthusiasm mate, building up their confidence doesn't have to come from training drills etc. The reason Leicester are winning is because they are more of a team than the rest, right now. Work on the teamwork, maybe arrange some trips for them to go on together, from days out to a theme park to going along to watch a local team play or anything. The point is they are together and the more they know each other the more relaxed they are playing together. Arrange a party for every birthday one of them has, things like that. If they are confident with each other they are more likely to try things and grow in confidence when something comes off.}

7.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 14:20:09
There is a great book by Jim White, 'You'll get nothing with kids, fathers, sons and football. Not a training manual book but a great read and I think you will particularly enjoy it.

8.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 14:47:09
another great read is falling off a cliff by Eileen Dover. great start but its all downhill from there.

9.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 15:16:43
Slightly off topic but if you type in YouTube 'Barcelona kids'
You'll see a load of little ones doing some crazy ball control mate. Don't even think it's the academy or anything but those lads are like mini messi's.

10.) 16 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 18:03:47
The fa licensed coaches club has some decent training drills for all ages. However, I implore you to make sure first and foremost the kids enjoy the training. My preference was for the emphasis on mini games were they get to improve their basic skills and confidence, mixed with situation based games where you can get them used to dealing with different scenarios. If you have to do drills where they take turns, make sure each kid has a football each. I took the advice from a couple of pro-coaches, one I met on a CPD course and one who is a friend of a friend. I learnt more listening to them for a couple of hours then I did in any book or the FA course.

I had to step back from involvement in my son's team as the other coach and some parents/ volunteers are far to bothered about the result rather than seeing the kids happy and learning/ improving not just as a team but as individuals. I can see the cracks starting to show and some parents realising the problem, they know I'm waiting in the wings when the people who run it either see sense or bugger off.