Coaching kids with
different personalities.

In any junior team, you'll have the kid who won't stop talking, the one who won't say a word, the one who wants to be captain of everything, and the one hiding at the back hoping not to get picked. Running one training session that works for all of them is one of the harder parts of coaching — and one no sporting-body handbook really covers.

The shy or reluctant kid

Don't single them out with "go on, have a go!" in front of the group — that pressure usually backfires. Instead, pair them with a kid they're comfortable with, and give them a specific, small job early in the training session ("you're on cones for this one") so they're involved without being on the spot.

The overconfident or dominant kid

These kids often take over drills, hog the ball, or talk over the coach. Rather than pulling them back constantly, give their energy somewhere useful to go — captaining a small group, demonstrating a drill, helping a younger or less confident kid. It channels the same trait into something that helps the team.

The easily distracted kid

Shorter, more frequent changes of activity usually beat one longer drill for this kid — and for a lot of the group, if you're honest. If your training session plan has long single-skill blocks, that's often where you'll lose them first.

The anxious or nervous kid

Clear, predictable structure helps more than encouragement alone. Kids who are nervous tend to do better when they know exactly what's coming next in the training session, and when mistakes are visibly treated as normal and low-stakes by the coach, not just said to be.

The biggest mistake

Running every training session as if every kid responds to coaching the same way. The structure can stay the same week to week — it's usually how you talk to each kid within it that's worth adjusting.