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OT - help with ideas for Youth Coaching - PENALTIES

swellsy

swellsy

Kevin Scott
Hi all,

As some of you may know I run a youth coaching company and we are currently in the office having a 'discussion' about the place of penalties to decide tournaments.

Now. Basically I don't like penalties. In youth football

The reason being is that it can lead to a situation whereby one child can feel completely, solely responsible for a teams loss. (no matter how hard you try to explain someone else also missed or someone else could have scored in the match itself, that there were brave to step up etc etc)

My belief is that Penalties will eventually be done away with away, not sure with what though. And that is my question.

There is now a tendency to finish matches with 3 v 3 instead of penalties. But the problem here is every team has to takes off another player every 1 minute till you get to 1 v 1 and the same situation that you get above, One child feeling responsible for a teams loss.

Have toyed with the idea of 3 v 3 till someone scores...but you would be surprised how long 3 v 3 can go on. Also the issue is that in 3 v 3 whoever starts is at a complete advantage as 3 v 3 really becomes 3 v 2 + goalie so you simply get ball possession until a very favourable shot.


So, any ideas on a fair way to decided matches that doesn't involve getting to a one v one situtation ?

Thanks

Swellsy
 
Captains fight to the death?

That way you still have the person who made your side lose, but they're dead, so they don't feel bad about it.
 
3 v 3 - no kick off, ball is thrown in from side line by the ref (both team starting position is on the edge of their "18 yard box") or just a good old fashioned drop ball

10 mins time limit (or however long you can have) - winner is first team to score. if no score, winner is team with most shots on target in the 3 v 3
 
Oooh, I have an idea that might work.

Say there's 10 mins extra time. The team that can keep the ball in the opponent's half for the longest period is the winner. Only way to really achieve this is to keep passing meaning all players take some responsibility.
 
Children have to learn, sport is a lesson in life.
All of the scenarios you describe, whilst true - also teach children positive things, how to take responsibility, how to accept defeat - as well as how to use a defeat as part of a learning experience (what do we have to do to prevent this from happening again?)

As a society we have to stop protecting our children from learning harsh lessons, and what better way than in a benign environment like sport? Sport is war without pain or real loss (its just a game) sport is life without the genuine consequences of failure, nobody dies, no-one is poorer at the end, no-one loses a love.

I dont want to come across as the competitive dad from the fast show, but kids need to learn harsh realities of life - and the bitter sting of tears is often a fantastic motivator to succeed next time.

Don't jump straight to 3 on 3. Take one off every minute, plus one for every foul. When they get down to 3 minutes left, put another ball on the pitch. First goal wins.

The scorer of the winning goal gets to shower with the referee's wife/daughter whichever is the finer.
 
true but you know how kids can turn on each other...while there are lessons to be learnt sometimes its better later.

why do you need a winner? can both teams settle as joint champions?

otherwise if you really have to, you can pick the "cleaner" team with less fouls for the winner if possible - definitely a lesson there somewhere. or the one that scores first, to reward attacking play.

but obviously you can't hid the fact that penalties do win or lose games - it can be a penalty within the game ... so in the longer term education at a certain point this "individual responsibility but team accountability" still needs to be taught somehow. and kids still turn on each other no matter what.
 
I think that whilst they can be heartbreaking to be involved in when you lose, they are amazing when you win. They are essentially reflection on football in general to be honest in the sense of it being about fine lines. I don't think there is a better way to settle a match currently and whilst it isnt nice for a youngster to miss a penalty......well thats life. It is a skill in itself to take a penalty under pressure and there is nothing wrong with youngsters stepping up to the plate and possibly missing.
 
mick cooper said:
Children have to learn, sport is a lesson in life.
All of the scenarios you describe, whilst true - also teach children positive things, how to take responsibility, how to accept defeat - as well as how to use a defeat as part of a learning experience (what do we have to do to prevent this from happening again?)

As a society we have to stop protecting our children from learning harsh lessons, and what better way than in a benign environment like sport? Sport is war without pain or real loss (its just a game) sport is life without the genuine consequences of failure, nobody dies, no-one is poorer at the end, no-one loses a love.

I dont want to come across as the competitive dad from the fast show, but kids need to learn harsh realities of life - and the bitter sting of tears is often a fantastic motivator to succeed next time.

Don't jump straight to 3 on 3. Take one off every minute, plus one for every foul. When they get down to 3 minutes left, put another ball on the pitch. First goal wins.

The scorer of the winning goal gets to shower with the referee's wife/daughter whichever is the finer.
Click to expand...

i think there are some good points there, but the key comes down how parents and teachers react;

kids will give kids a huge hard time for things like mistakes and make years of childhood unhappy.
i was always in my primary school football team because i had commitment (turned up every training session), certainly not ability - i was awful.
but anytime me (and anyone else) made a mistake and kids took the tinkle, the teachers would give it right back to them, putting them in their place............that is a key if you go down Micks route IMHO
 
You cant take away penalties, its one thing thinking of the childrens feelings, but a large part of football is responsibility. If they dont learn it at a young age, they'll never learn.
 
i always think that penalties (especially shoot-outs) should be decided tactically by the manager.

ie, he says:

Pen 1 = bottom left.
Pen 2 = central, low.
Pen 3 = bottom right.

... and so on.

that way, the player is 'just' carrying out a direction of the manager, leaving him to concentrate on the execution rather than the strategy.

i think that would take some pressure off the taker as the tactic has been taken out of their hands.
 
Take the penalties from the edge of the D outside the 18 yard box, so about 23? yards out

Then it won't be the one who misses that loses the game... it will be the bugger that finally scores that wins the game = hero not villain
 
swellsy said:
Hi all,

As some of you may know I run a youth coaching company and we are currently in the office having a 'discussion' about the place of penalties to decide tournaments.

Now. Basically I don't like penalties. In youth football

The reason being is that it can lead to a situation whereby one child can feel completely, solely responsible for a teams loss. (no matter how hard you try to explain someone else also missed or someone else could have scored in the match itself, that there were brave to step up etc etc)

My belief is that Penalties will eventually be done away with away, not sure with what though. And that is my question.

There is now a tendency to finish matches with 3 v 3 instead of penalties. But the problem here is every team has to takes off another player every 1 minute till you get to 1 v 1 and the same situation that you get above, One child feeling responsible for a teams loss.

Have toyed with the idea of 3 v 3 till someone scores...but you would be surprised how long 3 v 3 can go on. Also the issue is that in 3 v 3 whoever starts is at a complete advantage as 3 v 3 really becomes 3 v 2 + goalie so you simply get ball possession until a very favourable shot.


So, any ideas on a fair way to decided matches that doesn't involve getting to a one v one situtation ?

Thanks

Swellsy
Click to expand...

whats the general age group that you guys represent? i.e between what ages?

agree with what you're saying about the development of young footballers mentally being hindered by penalties and other things that bring about situations that may make them feel solely responsible about their team losing.

i think the 3v3 idea is actually VERY good.

how about a point system that would mean a certain number of fouls by the ENTIRE team inside the penalty area would then result in 1 penalty. that way the whole team can share the responsibility and teach them that the fouls would result into a penalty. that way they may probably be a lot more squeamish fouling in the box at the penultimate foul?

something else that needs addressing in this country is coaches playing BIG and athletic kids to overpower smaller ones. they seem more concerned with results than the kids social and footballing development IMO

who would have thought it. swellsy knee deep in football and the community
 
Go the Barca policy.. do away with competative games althogether if you feel that strongly.

Managers playing paper scissors rock.

Put 3 cones on the goalline, whoever knocks them over in the shortest number of penalty kicks wins, whole team takes penalties, lineup a bit like Soccer AM where they shoot through the hole.
 
Hotshot-Tottenham said:
i always think that penalties (especially shoot-outs) should be decided tactically by the manager.

ie, he says:

Pen 1 = bottom left.
Pen 2 = central, low.
Pen 3 = bottom right.

... and so on.

that way, the player is 'just' carrying out a direction of the manager, leaving him to concentrate on the execution rather than the strategy.

i think that would take some pressure off the taker as the tactic has been taken out of their hands.
Click to expand...
This is a great idea for an experiment - 10 penalties taken and results recorded - one set of penalties would have the player decide where to go and the other like you say above. Penalty sessions repeated 10 times for each set and a graph recorded to see which is more effective.
 
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