The Coaches' Room
3v3•U7•In Possession

They dribble every restart straight into three players

Asked by Maya1
3747 views 2 replies
Our U7s have really taken to being allowed to dribble the ball back in. The problem is nearly all of them put it down and sprint straight forward even when the other team are stood right there. Would you start asking them to look before they restart, or is this one of those things they need to lose the ball from a few times before it means anything?

VERIFIED COACH RESPONSE

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@CoachTomW

UEFA C Coach

Attacking • technical development

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I’d start adding “look first” now, but I would not stop them dribbling the restart. At the moment they have learned one exciting thing: I can put the ball down and go. The next bit is recognising whether there is actually somewhere to go. Try giving them a couple of seconds before the restart and ask, “what can you see?” Sometimes the answer should still be drive straight in. Sometimes they will notice a teammate or a space to the side. In training you can exaggerate it by having the defenders start in different places so the picture changes each time. And yes, losing the ball is part of the learning. You do not need to rescue every bad restart. Just help them connect what they saw — or did not see — with what happened next.

COMMUNITY DISCUSSION

Join the football discussion. 2 replies

B

BlackCoffee

Parent

I would let them lose it a few times. Then ask what else they could see. If we shout 'look up' before every restart, we have just replaced one automatic decision with an adult instruction.
T

Tom31

Coach

We put defender different distance each restart. Sometimes close, sometimes far. After few goes player start looking because same dribble not work every time. Much better than coach telling pass or dribble.

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