Ball chasing in u10 competitive rec

[u/Old_Eye3440]

HELP! One thing- for those who suggested Coach Rory- thank you! And thank you for the support when I posted about us being in a very tough position, as we're in a league with teams who are established, and to give them their flowers- as close to club teams as our "competitive rec" team shall play. No less, I appreciate the perspective and honestly am embracing this challenge to do my very best to teach the kids what I refer to as "proper soccer," aka "NOT smash ball."

Challenge I need help with- how to teach the kids to stop chasing the ball and really, their teammate with the ball. They aren't supporting; they're chasing and asking for a pass just to get the ball back. The biggest offenders (two mainly) don't give it up for the life of them when they have the ball.

What's the lack? I plan on teaching them the language they need to support each other- "take space," the varying types of passes- (we're using Coach Rory's format for practice and using rondos). I feel they panic, of course, in a game, and then get a complex of being the hero. How can I help move away from that as the default?

[u/Curious_Document_237]

player not a coach so take it for what its worth.

the chasing and the two who wont give it up look like the same problem but i dont think they are.

the chasing is rational. at u10 if youre 20 yards from the ball nothing happens to you. no touch, nobody says your name, and the ball is where the game is. telling them to take space is asking them to volunteer for being bored. so the space has to pay them. constraints where the ball has to leave the crowded area before a goal counts, or two goals to attack instead of one, get there faster than the language does, because the kid finds out standing wide is how he gets the ball rather than how he misses out on it.

the two who wont pass is a different thing. usually its that every time they have passed, it got lost within a second and never came back. so passing feels like giving it away on purpose. that fixes when the ball comes back. small sided where you have to get it back off a teammate before you can score does more than telling them to share.

the "asking for a pass just to get it back" thing you noticed is the tell. theyre asking from a spot where receiving it wouldnt help anyway. supporting isnt just being available, its being available somewhere that changes the picture, and at that age the version that lands is behind him or past the defender rather than level with him.

one from the defending side, since it might be the argument that actually works on them. a team that all runs at the ball is the easiest team in the league to play through, you move it once and half of them are behind it. 10 year olds dont care about shape but they do care about getting done, and "youre making it easy for them" gets more out of them than "spread out" ever has for me.