What went well?

Inter Centre tournament - Friday 21st Sept - Under 10's + Under 11's

Traditionally these have been the usual 8 v 8 inter Development Centre games - However we decidied to try a different approach for this session. The pitches were arranged with 8 x 4 v 4 games - including the goal game, The line game - the 4 goal game and the cone goal game.

Instead of playing the respective centres against each other we decided to mix the players up and thus enable our coaches to evaluate the abilities of the players on display, not who was winning or which centre they represented.

To further supplement this parents were given sheets to record how many touches a selected player (not their son) managed in each of the games

The evening proved to be an immense success - a summary of the findings is shown below:
The positives:
1. Number of touches per player off the scale
2. Player social development excellent - took them no time to integrate with other palyers they didn't know
3. Player problem solving - more dynamic - sustained exposure to specific problems e.g 3 v 4 enables more experimentation and thus more success and refined problem solving
4. This approach enables coaches to concentrate on player evaluation , not on team performance - Personally I thought this element was a revelation, I found myself completely absorbed by the talents and the potential talents on display . As we were looking for outstanding players I spent very little time evaluating errors or poor performance - can't believe how much I learnt about the new intake at our new centre
5. Greater integration from the coaches
6. The approach is player focused
7. Kids loved it - everyone scored at least 1 goal - not bad with 60+ kids
8. Game Structure - created a positive environment
9. Parent observations
10. All coaching interventions were re-inforcements of positive actions - no negative feedback, this has to be good for player development

Areas for improvement
1. Identify the team sheets before we arrive at the venue
2. Get the kids at the venue 15 mins earlier e.g. 45 mins before kick off -more time to get the kids ready
3. 1 of the vulnerabilities of the approach is that it does not encourage an expansive game - play is dominated by short passing and dribbling - Thus the balance between 4v4 and 8v8 is a necessity
4. Make the parental contribution more systemised

Overall
I thoroughly enjoyed the evening great watching football in its purest form, we will use 1 of the 2 games per 6 week block in this form and the other for conventional 8v8 format