Your U7s will score own goals. They will pick daisies during a match. One of them will need the toilet three times in an hour. Another will cry because they got mud on their new boots. Someone will ask you if there are snacks.
This is completely normal. Welcome to coaching the youngest age group in grassroots football.
If you're new to coaching U7s — or you've been doing it for a while and still feel like you're winging it — this guide will help you understand what to focus on, what to let go of, and what "good" actually looks like at this age.
What's happening developmentally
Children at U7 level are five and six years old. Their attention span is somewhere between two and seven minutes, depending on the child and how close to snack time it is.
They're still developing basic coordination. Running and kicking at the same time is genuinely difficult for many of them. Catching a ball is hard. Balancing on one foot is a challenge. Their spatial awareness — where other players are, where the space is — barely exists yet.
This isn't a coaching failure. It's biology.
At this age, the brain is still building the neural pathways for motor control. The more varied movement experiences they get — running, jumping, crawling, rolling, throwing, catching, balancing — the better their football will be later. That's why multi-sport activities and movement-based games are more valuable than passing drills at this stage.
What to focus on
Fun. Seriously, that's it. If they're having fun, they'll come back next week. If they come back next week, they'll keep developing. If they keep developing, they'll be better footballers at U10 than the kid who was drilled in passing at age five but burned out at eight.
Beyond fun, here's what actually matters:
Lots of ball contact. Every child should have a ball. Not one ball between four. Not waiting in a line. If you have 12 kids, you need 12 balls. The more touches they get, the more comfortable they become. Simple dribbling games, ball mastery challenges, 1v1s in small areas — this is where technique starts.
Movement variety. Don't just do football. Include running races, obstacle courses, tag games, animal walks. At this age, athleticism is built through play, not conditioning.
Small-sided games. 3v3 or 4v4, maximum. Smaller numbers mean more touches, more decisions, more goals. Nobody standing on the halfway line watching. Everyone involved.
Encouragement over instruction. They don't need to know about body shape or weight of pass. They need to hear "brilliant effort" and "unlucky, try again." The psychological corner — confidence, willingness to try, enjoyment — matters more than anything else at this age.
What to ignore
Results. Nobody should be tracking scores at U7. If parents ask who won, the correct answer is "everyone had a great time." I know that sounds cheesy. I don't care. It's the right approach.
Positions. Don't put a five-year-old at left back. Let them all play everywhere. The kid who looks like a defender now might be your best striker in three years. Let them explore.
Perfect technique. If they kick the ball and it goes roughly where they wanted, that's fine. You are not coaching the finer points of passing technique to a child who still believes in the tooth fairy. Let them experiment. Messy football is good football at this age.
The parent who says their kid is "wasted" in this position. They're six. There are no positions. Smile and move on.
What a good session looks like
A solid U7 session is 45-60 minutes, structured roughly like this:
Warm-up (10 mins): A fun movement game — tag, stuck in the mud, traffic lights. Gets them moving without boring them with laps.
Ball mastery (10 mins): Each child with a ball. Dribbling around cones, stopping on a whistle, toe taps, sole rolls. Keep it simple, add challenges ("can you do it with your other foot?"), and make it a game rather than a drill.
Main activity (15 mins): A game-based activity. 1v1 to score, dribble through gates, small-sided game with modified rules. The ball should be at their feet as much as possible.
Match play (15 mins): 3v3 or 4v4. Minimal stoppages. Let them play. Encourage from the side but don't over-coach. If someone scores, celebrate it. If someone makes a mistake, say nothing or say "good try."
Cool-down (5 mins): A quick chat, a fun game like "beat the coach" where they all dribble at you, and you let them past. End on a high.
The long game
The kids you're coaching now won't remember what drills you did. They'll remember how you made them feel. Did they look forward to training? Did they feel safe to try things? Did they leave with a smile?
If you're tracking progress with something like InsideFooty, at this age group you're mostly looking at the psychological and social corners. Are they enjoying it? Are they talking to their teammates? Are they trying new things without fear of getting it wrong? That's the foundation everything else gets built on.
You're not coaching footballers yet. You're coaching children who happen to be playing football. Get that distinction right, and everything else follows.