re: Advice for my son's soccer development. [wall-o-text]

Where do you live?

If he can't get on a U11 select team, I'd say go with U12 if you think he's mature enough.

Additional advice, take it or leave it:


Watch soccer with him. If he's a striker, watch games with the best strikers. Watch Bayern Munich (Lewandowski) and Man City (Aguero) and tell him to just focus on their movements.

Get him to practice his touch. A good first touch will separate him from almost every other kid his age.

- Have him shoot balls off the wall and trapping it when it returns to him.

- Have him start off 20-30 yards away from you and then sprint towards you. Pass the ball to him firmly and alternate having him do the following things (1) pass it back to you 1 touch, meaning he can't trap, just pass it back with his first touch of the ball. (2) trap the ball. Make sure he keeps the ball close, close control will really separate him from other strikers. Trap the ball and have him take a couple of dribbles back towards you. (3) Have him turn with the ball. This is where he can have fun and be creative. There are countless ways to turn he can really show some of his flair off in this exercise. Be careful to make sure he's always in control when he turns with the ball.

The most important part of that exercise is having him listen to your commands. For instance, if you pass it to him and yell MAN ON, MAN ON he should do (1). If you yell TIME he should take a touch and control the ball No (2). If you yell TURN he should do No. (3). Mix them up and try to catch him off guard.

- Work on his weaker foot. If he's right footed, have him dedicate parts of practice working solely on his left foot. One things players are coached to do on defense is give up the weaker foot. If I'm playing center back and I'm 1v1 with a guy who's faster than me, I'm going to try to force him to his off foot. That way if he tries to blow by me on his strong foot, I'm in a position to cut him off and if he tries to blow by me on his weaker side, I'm more able to capitalize on a bad touch or force a weak shot.

If he's good with his weak foot, he becomes almost unguardable in 1v1 situations which means he draws more defenders or he scores a ton of goals.

- Encourage him to have fun and be creative. As long as he's not in a defensive position and a threat to give up a goal, he should be encouraged to get creative. Don't be afraid to shoot and make sure he's leaning over the ball. Most goalies will have a harder time with a ball that's low or skips off the ground. Encourage him to try to beat defenders if the opportunity presents itself. Too many times, I see coaches stifle creativity and you end up with predictable robots.



You seem to be involved with his development so kudos to you. Hope he does well. Let us know if you have any more questions.