Firstly you need to acknowledge that all kids like to play team kits games and matches and so the best way to get them to focus for an hour is to explain to them that there will be a 20 minute match at the end of the practise so long as everyone behaves and focuses on their drills.
This incentive normally encourages them to behave and anyone who doesn’t behave normally is scolded by the other kids to shut up. This is a bit of reverse psychology but it is great way for everyone to get what they want i.e. kids behave and kids get a match.
You need to make sure that all the kids warm up correctly and so they need to do a few laps around the football pitch which means you want to try and get them to run as a group and not like a race. A good way to do this is to tell them that anyone who breaks away from the group will have to run the whole thing again. This will then get them to work together and to maintain a tight group while warming up.
What really does work when training in football is to combine passing exercises with shooting at a goal. If you get two players to pass a one, two then have them dribble down to the edge of the penalty box and cross the ball to a striker who has followed the ball down the pitch and have them shoot at the goal. This can work really well because it allows for controlled passing, live match play scenarios and also all kids favourite part – goal scoring. You can then have each kid do different areas each run so that they all get chance to pass, shoot and hopefully score.
Many kids have their own football team’s football shirt so for example a Manchester United fan would have a Manchester United shirt or even a whole Manchester United kit. It is a good idea to let them where these for training as it can keep them focused and also gives them a chance to wear their beloved football kits. You should be careful to make sure that not every child has their own football shirt and so you want to make sure that they are not excluded. Also you don’t want to much rivalry between football shirts, so make sure that every football shirt is welcome and there should be no ‘fan’ rivalry when playing together.
Jon currently works for J21Media, an online seo company that is working with Soccerbox and they specialise in the retail of official football shirts and also football kits such as the Manchester United kit and the Manchester United shirt and many other Premiership Clubs.