Looking for comment for other soccer coaches and/or players

I'm just curious to hear about how practices were run for you at that again and the style of play that the coaches taught. I'm trying to get as many ideas as possible. I played through High School in America 20 years ago, and a lot has changed since then in US soccer. I'd like to hear other perspectives and I'm really curious about how they do things in other countries.

I'm in my first week as a middle school boys soccer coach (ages 12-14). It's a team where I need to play everybody, but I'm also trying to be a feeder for the high school program. I have a pretty good amount of talent (much of it foreign born, but I have a couple good Americans :)) Since I have a few players from Haiti and Cape Verde, I'm curious about the way they teach the game other places.

So feel free to relive your past soccer/futbol glory and tell me about all the cool things you did back in the day, or tell me about what you are doing now as a coach. This could be a fun thread.

When I was at school it was just get out there and kick the ball , end of storry. no structure or working to set plays and drills.

I know that the Dutch use a system of using a size of pitch relevant to the age of the players, 5 year olds use a tiny pitch and a smaller ball then naturally progress higher.

They also use the total football approach where a player can slot into any other position if the play demands it. so a midfielder can drift back into defence if defender makes a good run from the back.

You can get some pretty decent coaching DVD's these days ( at least you could in the UK) it's always good to steal a variety of ideas. The thing that's important at that age though is that they enjoy the game. Too many stories these days of parents pushing kids and fights on the sidelines between parents !!