SQUAD MEMBERS
In their penultimate year with us, the players are still playing 7 a side games. By the age of around 10 and 11, most children have reached a level of physical and psychological development that allows them to play, rather than play at, the game of football. They are more competent in terms of individual technical performances, and they now intentionally combine in groups of two or four around the ball.The under 11/under 12 age groups are transitional ages for our young players. The seven a side game serves as their bridge to the adult game of 11 v 11. The smaller sided games produce players who are more tactically aware and more comfortable on the ball, and that is where we want them to be at this stage.
<For the first time, we introduce the players to conditioning work which includes flexibility exercises and they follow a running programme, facilitated by our own qualified athletics coach, Mick Harrington. We aim to improve agility, speed and stamina as the players begin to realise how important the physical side of football is.
As they gain experience by playing more games, we work on some individual and group tactics, like opening the body to receive passes, marking opponents and positional awareness. Supporting team mates in a 1 to 1 situation, moving as a team when attacking or defending and learning solutions to handle set plays are also taught at this age group.
