“I play as a Striker, Coach” says a 8 years old. 

May I ask you: Is this teaching Football? Is this relevant?
In how many positions should we teach our players to be good at?

Difficult questions here. True.

But one is easy to answer (at least for me), and that is that a 8 or 10 years old does not have is position in the field defined. Not just yet.
They should not think that they can only play as a winger, centre-back or striker. We cannot have it that way. They might think that they have certain abilities that allow them to play in certain positions better than others, as we as Coaches do, and that is normal. 

But to have the player (or the parents) saying “I’m not performing better because I’m out of my position” is a serious matter.

Studies demonstrate that allowing young athletes to experiment different positions is key for their tactical awareness and development. However, it only starts to be more relevant to increase the position-specific training ages above 12 years old, and even in those ages Coaches should focus on promoting 2 to 3 different positions awareness to each individual.

Football is changing rapidly, tactic awareness and versatility is becoming more important everyday. We can now see multiple players that can move into different positions during a match, teams that change their formation multiple times during the same match, or even adapting hybrid models, just as the latest Copa Libertadores winners Fluminense with their apositional style of play.

I play as a Striker, Coach!

8 years old Player

Then, the questions becomes: What to do then?

I would say that we need to have clear that there are elementar behaviors that all players must understand. 

For me, they are quite obvious. 

I want players to understand what to do when in possession of the ball and enjoy the space with the ball, but also what to do when a teammate has the ball and how to be an option, primarily directly (installing the need to have multiple options for the one in possession of the ball, i.e. right-left-centre). In addition, at 14 years old, we must expect players to have a clear idea about Defensive Specific Principles of the Game, mainly on how to press, control attacking players areas of intervention and how to guide them to the areas we want, as well as to cover the pressing player and provide team balance in short formats (lines of 3 or 4). The collective side of the Defensive Game can be developed and there will be different Coaches implementing their Vision, but its very important to have all these elements installed at this age, and to have them distributed in a logical and progressive way throughout the players development.

Be clear about your Goals and Specific Objectives for each age category, make sure that it makes sense and that you’re installing the Love for the Game at every stage.
Without that, they will give up before reaching higher stages of understanding the game.

And then, trust the Process and give time, once some will take more time than others, which by the age of 10 or 12 does’t necessarily means a lot, either in their position or their chances to become a Professional Footballer.

It starts with you, always.

See you next time!