In a recent local football tournament I was volunteered to referee some matches for 7 to 11 year olds.
Although I am not a qualified referee I enjoyed the event and it was quite interesting to see football from a different perspective.
The one thing that was highlighted by this experience was the discipline of young players and coaches.
While, in the main the football and discipline was excellent and a joy to witness, the event did not go without some incidents.
The main problem seemed to be with over enthusiastic coaches and parents living their playing days through young children.
There seemed to be a pattern that the less disciplined the coach, the less disciplined the players. Relaxed coaches tended to generate a relaxed atmosphere for their players.
I am not sure that all of the coaches at the event carried FA qualifications. Coaches and parents need to step back and take a look at themselves. Let the youngsters play and enjoy their football. There is no need to put them under pressure at such a young age.
The one thing that I would say to parents is to stand well back from the touchline. This has the effect of detaching you from the game, gives everyone a better view and give the kids chance to play their football.

The top 5 essential pieces of football training equipment.
Marker cones. Used to mark out your playing area, to set up sprinting courses, training routines and pitches for small sided games. The marker cones are one piece of football equipment that every coach should not be without.
Slalom poles. Great for speed and agility routines. Spikes at the bottom of the poles allow them to be used on grass. Alternatively the poles can be inserted into bases to allow them to be used on hard surfaces.
Training Footballs. A good quality ball should last at least a whole season. Make sure that you have the right size. As a guide, size 3, age 6 to 9, size 4, age 9 to 14 and size 5 age 14 plus.
Hurdles. A great piece of equipment for speed, agilty and stamina training.
Speed Ladders. These are used for speed and endurance training. A 4m to 9m ladder is recommended for length. They will pack away quite neatly into a storage bag.
No matter what football equipment you are using for your training sessions, remember to keep it fresh, change the content on a weekly basis and have fun!

So the FA have announced this week that football for under eights should not be played in a league system.
The object of this is to put the fun back into football for young players and make winning games less important.
This is a small step in the right direction from the FA, but most respecting leagues across the UK do not play competitive league games at this age anyway.
A bolder step by the FA would be to stop the academies taking players into their fold at the tender ages of 7, 8 and 9 and to raise the age that an accademy can approach any player to 10 or 11 years old.
Young players are being scouted by top clubs at very tender ages. I have watched a local teams progress through the seasons and the club scouts would turn out in their forces to watch players at 7 and 8. When those players reach 10 or 11 the scouts and clubs don’t seem to be interested in them.
It seems a great shame that in this country we consider a player to be past it at the age of 11 plus.
By not allowing clubs to take on players until this age it would give young footballers more time to express themselves at a young age, allowing them to mature with more flair, and that can’t be a bad thing!

The most common questions we get asked at The Soccer Store regarding football goals are:
I want a goal for my son or daughter but what size do I need to buy?
The standard size football goals for mini soccer, the seven-a-side game played by under 7s to under 11s is 12 x 6foot. If you have a fair size garden this goal will fit well and be in line with the size used for mini soccer.
However if the garden space is not so great a 8 x 6ft or even 8ft x 4ft goal will suffice.
For younger football stars a 5 x 4ft, 6 x 4ft or 8 x 4ft goal is the size you should be looking at.
One point to note is that some of the Samba Goals are modular, the 8x 4ft will convert to an 8 x 6ft and an 8 x 6ft will convert to a 12 x 6ft goal.
The larger 16 x 7ft goals are designed for 9 v 9 football.
AS far as price is concerned with football goals, the more you pay the better the goal. In our opinion at The Soccer Store the best goals around are the Samba Goals. These goals are of a very high quality and will last for years.
The Samba goals come either with a locking system or as a non locking  goal. On the non locking goals the pieces simply slide together with a friction fit. On the sections of the locking goal one will have a spring loaded plunger, the other section will have a hole. As you assemble the two pieces together the plunger on one section pushes down and then pops out through the hole on the other section ensuring that the assembled goal will not come apart even after the fiercest of shots.

There are a few things to consider when purchasing your new football nets.
Firstly and perhaps the most obvious is size. Football nets come in a wide range of sizes from target football goal nets at 4f x 2ft at to full size nets. A full size football goal measures 24ft wide x 8ft high, whereas a Junior size football goal measures 21ft wide x 7ft high.
The next thing to consider is what shape of goal will the net need to fit. The net is measured not only on its width and height but also on the top runback (how far the net runs back at the top) and its bottom runback (not surprisingly, how far the net runs back at the bottom). These two measurements are there to accommodate any net supports that may be on the goal.
For goals without net supports you can use a net with zero runback at the top. Alternatively you can use a net with a runback at the top but then double peg the net out to take the slack out. This is a valid suggestion because your team maybe playing on different venues where some goals are fitted with net supports and some are not.
The third thing to consider is the twine diameter. For full size or junior size nets 2.5 to 3mm is a good quality net. For the smaller size nets 2 to 2.5mm is adequate.
Lastly you may want to look at the net colour. In general the full size and Junior nets are white, but the striped nets that we offer at The Soccer Store are becoming more common.

The other point to consider when buying nets are as follows:
Net clips The quick clips are the best solution on offer. The nets wrap around the goal frame and the clips are used to clip the net back on itself. A pack of 40 will be enough for a pair of nets. These are available at The Soccer Store for just £5.00 a pack.
Net pegs A pack of 10 pegs will peg out 1 net. The steel pegs are best for hard ground, whereas the plastic pegs are best for use on soft ground.
Net bag Definitely recommended for nets over 2.5mm diameter in full size or Junior size.

If you are looking to set up your own football team, whether it’s a semi-official one for competing in local tournaments or just for fun with family, friends or work collegues, there are a few basic essentials you will need.

Here is our short list of the basic essentials:

• Goals – prices start very low for some cheap goal posts, probably much less than you think. The price depends on how sturdy you want the goals to be and the size of the football net
• Team bibs – you need some way of differentiating the two teams. You could save some money and ask one team to all come in white t-shirts, or similar, but there is always someone who forgets, so it’s worth spending just a little money on at least one set of bibs
• Training equipment – if you want to get really serious, buy a few cones and start working those muscles and training hard. Not for the faint-hearted but loads of fun!
• Football – the one thing you must never forget. There are many brands available, Mitre being a good standard one, and the price varies depending on the material of the football and its weight
• Fun – most of all, enjoy the beautiful game