Week 10 · U12
Festival, game day & leadership
Objectives — what the players will do
- 1Organize your own teams and games — players lead the show tonight
- 2Lead something out loud — explain a rule, set up a field, or coach one point yourself
- 3Notice a teammate's growth and say it out loud
Play 1 — starts when the second player arrives
World Cup — Round 1
Players pick and name their own teams, then short tournament games across two small fields. Coach referees loosely and celebrates loudly. Every skill from the season will show up on its own — name them when you see them.
Practice — the one taught activity of the night
Players' Choice Reload
The team votes for their favorite practice of the season — the rondo ladder, Brave Zones, 2v2 press-and-cover, Race and Finish, counter-attack waves — and plays it one last time. Hand over as much as they can handle: let players explain the rules, set the cones, and coach the points themselves. This is the leadership week — every player leads something tonight, even if it is just the team cheer. Your job is to watch how far they have come.
Keep everything light and celebratory — no pressure, no scores that matter.
Players run the entire activity, rules and coaching included, while you only observe.
Play 2 — always finish playing the real game
The Senior Game + Shout-Outs
Finale game with senior rules: players self-referee, settle their own calls, and manage the game without coach input — watch the maturity they have built. Circle up after: every player gives one shout-out naming a teammate who improved and how. End the season loud.
Key coaching points — in your own words
- ·Which week made you a better player — and can you show it today?
- ·Can your team solve a problem in the game without the coach saying a word?
- ·Who on your team improved the most this season, and what did you learn from watching them?
Full player ownership — teams, rules, refereeing, and the post-game talk.
Keep it relaxed and positive; the coach steers just enough to keep games flowing.
Game-day focus — watch for this on Saturday
Last Saturday of the season — let the players lead the pregame huddle, then run the full 1-2-3-1 checklist one more time: build short from the goalkeeper, switch play wide when a side is crowded, defenders step up to midfield in possession, and react within 5 seconds both ways. Then celebrate every one of them, win or lose. Protect the badge.
Message to forward to your parents
Season finale! Ask your child what they would tell their week-1 self, and celebrate how far they have come. Keep a ball at their feet over the break — free play in the backyard is the best off-season training there is.
This week's two videos
Prep the night before; copy the activity on the field.
Run the best youth soccer sessions ever!!!
Watch the night before to understand the idea
Coach Rory on what makes youth sessions genuinely great — the right frame for a review month. Watch before planning Week 1, then rewatch before Week 4 as a personal season checklist: did our sessions look like this? It feeds straight into your own coach reflection.
Watch on YouTubeSmall Sided Games | 5 Variations | Football/Soccer
A drill you can copy on the field
Five quick small-sided variations to keep the festival fresh across the month. Grab one new variation each session through Develop and Challenge weeks. Small tweaks create new problems — See it, Solve it, Show it every round.
Watch on YouTube