A ‘team’ means everyone

In the Foundation Phase it’s important to provide a positive and memorable first experience of sport, football and of being involved in a team. This will only happen if – where possible – you give equal opportunities to all your young players.
The reality at this young age is that there’ll be a large variation in ability levels, levels of engagement, concentration and effectiveness in matches. This is not unusual – in fact, you should expect it and plan for it. One reason you need to do this is because young players develop at different rates and a player who may not be doing so well at the moment, could be ‘flying’ in 3 months’ time.

Including everyone is difficult, because only so many players can be playing at any given time.

In the video that follows, the coaches are working hard to involve all of the children at all times, rather than focus purely on those that are playing. A variety of methods are used and an effective Foundation Phase coach will adjust to the needs of their group.

Some of your actions to include the resting players could be:

• asking them to provide feedback and analysis of the game at half-time
• giving them specific players to watch and provide feedback on
• getting them to mark out a practice area and work on an aspect of their game
• setting up a game between the resting players on both teams, while they wait for their turn to come on.