So our development squad season has begun and we're 3 weeks in to our season although the kids haven't started playing club football yet for another 2-3 weeks.

The first thing that has struck me - apart from how similar a lot of 10 year old boys look - is just how big a difference there is in the U12s from last season and the U10s I have this year. A group of 32 is also a very big group when all together and an awful lot names to remember. Much of the work we will do will be in groups of eight as there are four of us coaching. There is also quite a big difference in the capabilities between the 32 players and we will need to factor this into the program to ensure we get improvements across the board.

My last blog outlined our top line objectives for this group and some of these are already looking more challenging than others.  The biggest challenge I think we will face this year is getting the right balance between game centred practise and technique development. If I go by the FFA's Building Blocks addendum to the National Curriculum these kids are bang in the middle of the "discovery" and "skill acquisition" phase so we will constantly need to be aware of hitting the right balance between the two. We need to work on helping the players develop the right techniques for the key skills but at the same time keep it fast paced and fun.

The attention span of these kids is significantly less than the U12s and their abilities to execute some of the basics is still very much a work in progress so I think our approach will need to be a bit more fluid and open to change on the fly to keep them focussed and interested.

I'll be honest here I think my first session didn't quite hit the right balance and I will be looking to move more towards the "discovery" side of things for at least the first few weeks. I think the kids were also more hungry to just play because they are not playing at weekends yet or training with their clubs. And I probably overestimated their capacity to execute some of the things I was asking them to do having never coached kids this young before with some of the exercies a bit too complex. All of which is part of our learning experience as coaches.

I'll also be looking to make a game of everything we do - so even when we're working on some of the repetition work there's a fun, point scoring elements to it.

When we came to the 8 v 8 game at the end you could have thrown a blanket over them for most of it so will be working on getting them to become more aware of the space around them and not immediately gravitating towards the ball - if you've got any proven games to help this feel free to share!

One thing's for certain - I will be learning as much as the kids this year and am relishing the challenge already. In the first two weeks we've had a few tears already from a couple of small collisions (head down - no scanning!) and one kid taking home the wrong kit bag.

Three weeks in I'd back myself to maybe remember 10 names - 22 to go!

If you've started coaching for the new season - let us know how you're getting on - what are you learning and what are you coaching - share with us below.