My players are all at different levels of development – how do I coach them?

Answer

You should split the players into ability groups but play the same session just make it easier for the ones who are not so well developed – bigger area to play in, slower game etc.

Watch how they develop over the season. You may be surprised at how much they have grown or have taken a leap in ability. This is not the easiest of problems to cover because you will struggle until they make the leap in playing ability. You may find you lose players if they get frustrated at the play of some of their teammates. Your main problem is getting them to play in their spare time which of course you have less control over.

What I often do is do something simple like keepy uppies and give them a target – so say your better-developed players get a target of 8 the others get 2 or 3. I don’t think that the better players will get any worse individually but you may find at a team level it will be more difficult to play a passing game which will put your teams behind.

The way you could go is to have three different strength teams and talk to the parents about playing time and development and how they will all develop better if they are in teams where they all play at the same level. However, you could then have players moving up when they get better, swapping with other players who are struggling in the team. In this way you can develop all three teams and have a good way to get players giving their full effort to get better in their skills level.

It isn’t easy but there are a lot of coaches in your position – on a positive note your squad has 31 players, which gives you options as to how you proceed.