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📋 Session Plan

U9 Passing & Dribbling Mix

A 45-minute U9 session — passing fundamentals plus 1v1 confidence, ending with 4v4 SSG. Bridges the U8 3v3 entry format toward U10 7v7.

Duration45 min AgeU9–U10 Players12 FocusQuality, decision-making, and
ABCDE

⏱Session timeline

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▦Session blocks

1

Arrival Pairs

0 min

Pair-based arrival sets up the passing theme. Solo arrivals form triangles with the nearest pair. By the time the warm-up starts, the squad is moving.

2

Sharks and Minnows

0 min

Dribbling-themed warm-up — every kid as both shark and minnow. 4 rounds of 90 seconds. Builds dribbling confidence under chase pressure.

3

Two-Player Passing

0 min

The bread-and-butter passing drill at U9. Pairs pass, move, receive, pass back. By minute 10, add the call-the-name constraint for communication building.

4

4v4 to Mini-Goals

0 min

Apply both passing AND dribbling work. Run as 4-minute games with 60-second resets. No constraints — let them play. Coach observes which themes show up naturally.

5

Walking debrief

0 min

Walking circle, slow passing. Question: 'name a teammate who passed to you well today'. Builds peer recognition culture.

◆What you'll need from yourself

Clear demonstrations and high energy. Keep the session moving with minimal queuing, and reinforce one or two key coaching points rather than overloading players with information.

!Common problems

Players standing in queues (set up enough stations to keep everyone active) and the session running too long on one activity (keep blocks tight and move on while engagement is high).