Skills Acquisition

Skills Acquisition Phase

During the Skills Acquisition Phase (U10 - U13) the emphasise is on skills development. However, this should not be separated from developing insight/game understanding at the same time.

In the Skill Acquisition Phase the coach must focus exclusively on providing a solid foundation of technical skill
If the player does not gain this skill foundation during this phase it will be very difficult to make it up later
No amount of fitness or competitive spirit will ever compensate for deficiencies in functional game skills

Core Skills

During the Skills Acquisition Phase the following four core skills are focused on:

First Touch
Striking the Ball
Running with the Ball
1 v 1

Session Structure

Each training session during the Skills Acquisition Phase should be organised according to the following structure:

Skill introduction: This is the warm-up as well as an introduction to the designated core skill for this session. This is the only part of the session where drill-type exercises should be used, but the creative coach can include elements of decision-making.
Skill training: This is the part of the session where conscious teaching and learning of the designated core skill takes place. It involves lots of repetition in game realistic scenarios!
Skill game: A game where as much as possible all the elements of the real game are present but organised in away that the designated core skill has to be used regularly. Skill games are preferably small sided games to stimulate the number of repetitions/touches!

Coaching Resources

The following are resources are useful for coaching skills:

Skill Training Certificate Participant Manual

This Participant Manual provides vital coaching information and feature model sessions for the Skill Acquisition Phase and covers the course content included in the Skill Training Certificate course.

Click HERE for the Skill Training Certificate Participant Manual.

Northern NSW Football Skills Development Video Series

Northern NSW Football does a good series of 2-4 minute videos which focus on each of the four Core Skills and provides the structure for a training session. The sessions are provided below. Click on each session to access the video for each session.

Note that they use the terminology Beginning, Middle and End in each session rather than Skill Introduction, Skill Training and Skill Game.

2018 Skills Video Series

Week 1 - Running with the Ball

Week 2 - Striking the Ball

Week 3 - 1 v 1

Week 4 - N/A

Week 5 - Running with the Ball

Week 6 - 1 v 1

Week 7 - Striking the Ball

Week 8 - Running with the Ball

Week 9 - Striking the Ball

Week 10 - Running with the Ball