Take them to one side.

I often work with the younger children (6-7) at the local football team which often offers up an array of challenges , not just with keeping them interested and active , but keeping them happy , attitudes can take a turn at any second.

On this particular occasion a player had missed a opportunity to score and so was blaming an injury , as coach you can't tell them they don't have an injury at this age , often because we just don't know , but more importantly for the relationship between player and coach it could suggest a level of distrust. So when the player began causing a disturbance in the game and then causing problems with other players I had to intervene. There was another coach present so it was o.k to move away from the session with the player , but I all so took it as an opportunity to give a feeling of responsibility to another player , a player that is usually fairly quiet by nature in sessions , I asked the player can you make sure everyone behaves whilst I go make sure ...... is o.k ? Within two minutes he was shouting at a team mate to concentrate which made me smile. This comes  back to understanding your players and the requirements of individuals. A coach's responsibilities , as mentioned earlier in the blog , particularly with younger children extends well beyond developing technical skills and giving them a place to play sport. Giving players opportunities to develop life skills is a major positive of a lot of sports and this is what I was trying to do with this particular player , giving him a sense of responsibility that ultimately encouraged him to speak above his team mates , a reversal on usual procedure where he says very little.

Back to the original point taking the player to the side of the pitch. This reduces the chance of further disturbance to the session. All so will make the player feel less embarrassed than being talked to in the middle of the pitch and all so if he has attention seeking motives he will feel he has your attention. This is only a good idea with two coaches though , if you feel a player is trying to demand all your attention when coaching alone , try not to divert your attention to them , you may keep one child happy but the whole team suffers.

Don't make a mistake that many coaches do and stop the session in order to speak to one child , this can often only heighten anger as the child now feels you are highlighting them in front of everyone , a spot light effect. If possible move them away from the main focus of the group and speak to them one to one.