Coaching Footy Under 9's Training Ideas

[MP_]

Hi Guys,

I've just been made the coach of our community under 9's team, not having coached before has anyone got some ideas on drills for the young fellas that will keep them entertained. The standard drills eg handballing , kicking and marking I know about but am looking for something that is a bit more fun and nor so monotonous. They seem to like competetive drills either against each other or in teams. Any ideas would be great.

Go the Mannum Roos

 

[cptkirk]

make games out of basic skill drills

kicking - 1st team to "hit the target" 10 times (be generous)
hand balling - basic lanework and 1st 2 20 handballs without the ball touching the ground
making - 1st to 20 marks or 10 in a row

stuff like that

 

[FootyFullOn]

In under 9's the key point is to teach fundementals like hand passing, marking and kicking and the IMPORTANCE of staying in position.

Warm up game - Duck Duck Goose

Teach when handpassing to catch thier fist after release of the ball
Teach them to mark on the chest, also when overhead marking to have fingers spread wide.
With kicking make it a rule that all kicks must be drop punt kicks

Can I suggest you contact the AFL and ask when they are running a Level 1 Junior Coaching course in your area, it will be very benificial.

Good luck and you will enjoy coaching

 

[HSSB]

Yeah it is really important that you teach the players the basics now, marking in hands, handballing both sides and especially kicking both feet, kicking both feet is a big one because you need it in todays game and I wish my coach made us do that in U8s and 9s.

A family member of mine has had the same shitty coach for 3 years now and the team is going no where, luckily he has been taught else where but U9s is all about the basics, kicking etc. and playing all positions.

cptkirks drills are great, maybe marks up or a scratch match at the end for fun

 

[jezza25]

Not sure where Mannum is but i assume its in Adelaide somewhere.
Over here its compulsory to do a coaches course, which i did a few years ago now, but these courses are fantastic for junior coaches.
Even if they are not mandatory for you guys, i would do one without hesitation if they are available to you. You will learn more in the 1 day than you could think up in a year.
I concentrated on kicking technique a lot when i coached the U/9's cos its here where habits are formed and believe me most of my kids are nice kicks now.
I used a tennis ball to kick goals from the goal square to improve technique then alternated with a footy. The difference at first was enormous but got better and better over the year.
Other than that i agree with the previous posters and keep it fun.
Good luck and well done for taking the job on.
I love it and hope you do too.

 

[Dan Moody]

In under 9's the key point is to teach fundementals like hand passing, marking and kicking and the IMPORTANCE of staying in position.

Warm up game - Duck Duck Goose

Teach when handpassing to catch thier fist after release of the ball
Teach them to mark on the chest, also when overhead marking to have fingers spread wide.
With kicking make it a rule that all kicks must be drop punt kicks

Can I suggest you contact the AFL and ask when they are running a Level 1 Junior Coaching course in your area, it will be very benificial.

Good luck and you will enjoy coaching

having just coached a junior team for the last 5 years, the beginning years should be solely about the kids having fun and learning basic fundamentals.
as above but the kids should be catching their wrists after handballing and also get them to concentrate on other things like having a low ball drop onto the foot when kicking. they cup their hands and drop the ball onto their foot then graduate onto 1 hand drop etc.
get onto the afl website under development and you'll find heaps of drills.
under 9's training should be for a maximum of an hour once a week.
rotate the kids around ALL positions, they shouldn't be held to one position until around under 13's, 14's.
keep the training sessions to 3 drills MAXIMUM, and always finish with a gamesense drill (a football related game)
don't worry if the kids don't pick up the exact positions straight away, as long as they know to pick up their opponent. with under 9's you'll find 18 midfielders regardless of where you have them on the field
don't take this too seriously, the kids will pick up if the coach isn't having fun and you'll lose them. your main role is to keep these kids interested in AFL so that they will come back and play again next year, that's a win.
rotate the bench equally and make sure that you have structure for kids this age otherwise they'll run riot at training.
last tip, make sure you use a whistle at training instead of yelling. the kids will then take that onto the field and learn to respect your direction and the umpires.
good luck, websites like swoopercoach and coachafl are also good for getting ideas for drills plus there's also a great drills and skills book out there by david wheadon that i'm sure's still available from the afl website development section. get yourself onto the AFL Level 1 course as someone else has already said, because I can guarantee you that coaching kids is a LOT different from coaching adults.
enjoy

 

[yes_its_me]

Hi Guys,

I've just been made the coach of our community under 9's team, not having coached before has anyone got some ideas on drills for the young fellas that will keep them entertained. The standard drills eg handballing , kicking and marking I know about but am looking for something that is a bit more fun and nor so monotonous. They seem to like competetive drills either against each other or in teams. Any ideas would be great.

Go the Mannum Roos

aha go mannum!