Hi Dennis,

Great to have you with us, and huge respect for the work you’re doing with the U8/U9s! Coaching at that age is such an important part of their development.

The 4v4 format without a keeper is a perfect setup for developing individual technique, awareness, and decision-making. Your idea of using a rhombus shape (6, 7, 9, 11) is spot on, it encourages spacing, angles, and natural rotation. You’ll start to see how even the youngest players begin to understand support play and transition when given clear roles in a shape like that.

Here are a few quick suggestions:

Focus heavily on 1v1s, 2v2s, and ball mastery in your sessions

Keep everything game-based and fun — lots of touches, short rest periods, and constant engagement

Rotate players through all positions — let everyone try being a “6” and a “9”

Use small goals or target areas to encourage finishing and defending, even without a keeper. 

Feel free to share session ideas, looking forward to hearing more as your season get's going!🤝⚽️

I would have it continue Jerry Naylor as a normal game, and maybe look to reward the team on gaining possession (eg two goals if they reagin and finish within 5 seconds, a goal for two 6 second regains). You don't want too much stop start here. 

Hi sjaak van de kooy so sorry missed this one!I’d recommend keeping it fun and energetic to ease them back in.

Start with some simple ball mastery to get the touches going again, then small-sided games to build sharpness and decision-making.

You could also mix in some team-building bits to get that group connection back. Keep it light but purposeful, then gradually build the intensity over the next few weeks.Have a great season ahead!

Hey Mario Grimaldo please check you DMs, discount code sent! 💪

sean Yes absolutely, I dont see why not 👍

Can you try again Kiriakos Karamoutsos should be good to go. 

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you are an Annual, Bundle or Lifetime Subscriber you will get a free 200+ page ebook, (2 for Bundle and Lifetime Members). Just DM me and I'll get your personalised code for you to use at store.touchtight.com. 🚀⚽️

Hi Wilson.. welcome! ⚽️💪

Hi Michael, what age group are we talking about here as has a big impact. I would say encourage them to be off their line in general play, so they are always part of the defensive unit, especially when your team are the attacking half. This keeps them connected and ensures they don't switch off. Of course they need to be ready on the transition when your team lose possession and cover their goal and drop when they need to. But try to encourage this in training and games and encourage them to come off their line in training specifically and see it transfer into games. Even if they make mistakes, encourage the fact that they come off their line and show bravery in that sense in one v ones. 

Hey Salvador Reynoso, yes we will be sending out a discount code for you to use to grab your ebook from the store. This way you can choose which ebook you want to download from the collection. Hoping to get this out to all users tomorrow!