When coaching youth players, you need more than enthusiasm. You need a plan.
Not a rigid curriculum that ignores individual differences, but a framework that guides what players need at each stage of their development. Without this, coaching becomes reactive - you’re just filling time rather than building players.
The framework below has shaped my thinking about player development. It’s not set in stone, but it provides the stability needed to adjust to individual players while maintaining clarity for everyone involved.
The Foundation: You vs Yourself
Before diving into age groups, there’s one principle that underpins everything:
You vs Yourself.
This isn’t just a motivational phrase. It’s a mindset that promotes self-development - improving your current level each time you train or play. Promote this every single day at every stage of development.
Players who adopt this mentality focus on controllable factors. They don’t compare themselves to teammates or opponents in destructive ways. They measure progress against their own previous performance.
This mindset becomes increasingly important as players progress through the pathway.
U6 to U8: Inspire
The first step in a player’s journey must be filled with fun and enjoyment. Coaches at this age group have an enormous responsibility to inspire a love of football. You’re not just teaching skills - you’re potentially creating a lifelong relationship with the game.
The priority order:
- The relationship between player and ball - this comes first, always
- The relationship between player and game
- The relationship between player and club
Inspire a fascination with the ball. Create an environment where children want to improve because they’re enjoying themselves, not because they’re being drilled.
Technical perfection isn’t the goal here. Engagement is. A child who loves touching the ball will practice naturally. A child who associates football with boring drills won’t.
U9 to U11: Build the Technical Hard Drive
This is where systematic technical development begins. The technical hard drive I’ve written about becomes the focus:
- Receiving the ball - the gateway to every action
- Moving with the ball - dribbling and running with the ball
- Releasing the ball - passing and shooting
Training at this age should focus heavily on individual development. Fill sessions with fun practices and small challenges - 1v1s, 2v1s, 3v2s - that promote self-improvement and awareness.
The key word is “challenges” - problems to solve inside the game. Not mindless repetition, but purposeful practice where players discover solutions.
U12 to U14: Build the Player
Now we start assessing and building each individual player more systematically.
Questions to constantly ask:
- What comes naturally to this player?
- What do they enjoy doing?
- What can they use to impact games successfully?
- What do they need to improve to impact games more?
- What areas intrigue them?
- What types of opponents give them success?
- What types of opponents cause them problems?
Watch, assess, and reassess constantly. The focus remains heavily individual.
This is a crucial age for gaining new skills and techniques. Players become immersed in the game and develop strong role models from professional football. Use this natural motivation.
The combination of inspiring, improving technique, and gaining new skills to outplay opponents must be constants in every player’s football diet.
Coaching focus: Teach players to play the small games within the bigger 11v11 game. How to win 1v1s in all facets. The rules of small overloads like 2v1, 3v2. Awareness of space both vertically and horizontally.
U15 to U17: Develop Identity
As teenagers progress through secondary school, they naturally form self-awareness - likes, dislikes, beliefs, personality. Football development should follow the same pathway.
This is the stage where we help players become aware of their unique playing personality - how they can use this to form a strong footballing identity.
Identity means:
- Awareness of yourself playing at your best
- Understanding the qualities you possess to positively impact outcomes
- A clear training plan based on strengths
- The ability to integrate your playing identity within a team
This area has been neglected in UK coaching for years. We’ve focused too heavily on weaknesses in feedback and not enough on what makes each player unique.
I’ve seen this repeatedly with young scholarship players arriving at professional clubs. Ask them “Why are you a top player?” or “Why is the club offering you a contract?” and they often can’t articulate an answer.
That’s a failure of development, not a personality flaw. If young people we work with don’t have self-confidence about what makes them unique, we need to promote this more deliberately.
U18+: Fine-Tuning and Pathway
As players arrive at senior football, uncertainty increases. The progression from U18s to reserves/U23s to first team is rarely smooth.
The U23s environment is one all players rush to enter, but soon realise is difficult to escape. There’s no automatic progression like moving from U10s to U11s at season’s end.
The reality:
- Some players (the rare exceptions) break through directly
- Many take longer, requiring loans to gain experience
- Some drop to lower leagues before climbing back up
During this period, what you promote as a coach matters enormously.
If you’ve been promoting the You vs Yourself mentality, players stay focused on personal development. They remain stable and make good decisions about their pathway.
If you haven’t, you may find players (and parents) unwilling to take loans to smaller clubs, or mentally unstable due to expectations that success will come automatically.
My advice: Educate young players on the journeys taken by current first-team players. Understanding that each pathway is unique helps players navigate uncertainty.
The Critical Principle: Adding, Not Removing
Each stage must continue into the next.
“Inspiring” the love of the game doesn’t stop at U8 - it continues at every age. Building the technical hard drive doesn’t end at U11 - it continues throughout a career. These elements remain equally important whether I’m coaching U10s or first-team players.
Development is cumulative. Each stage adds layers without removing what came before.
What This Means for Your Coaching
If you’re working with a specific age group, understand where your players are in this journey and what they need most.
If you’re running a club programme, ensure your pathway reflects these priorities at each stage. Clarity for coaches leads to consistency for players.
And regardless of what age you coach, promote the You vs Yourself mentality. Players who focus on self-improvement rather than external comparison develop faster and handle setbacks better.
The framework isn’t complicated. But implementing it consistently transforms random coaching into purposeful development.
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