9 v 9 Football for U11s

  9 v 9 Football for U11s ...............  One of the biggest changes in the F A's proposals is the introduction of 9-a-side football for under 11s and under 12s. The new format is designed to help bridge the gap between mini-soccer at under 10s and 11-a-side football at under 11s - a jump so big that this age group currently suffers from one of the biggest drop-rates in Youth Football in England.

It seems absurd to many in the game that children as young as 11 are expected to play on a full-size pitch and in full-size goals. And kids, being kids, are able to highlight this absurdity in brilliantly simple fashion. Here are a few of the comments that Levett heard from children in the under 11 age group while discussing the change to 11-a-side:

“Why do I have to defend the same size goal as PetrCech?” - Josh

“Why is the pitch so much bigger than last year? We're only a little bit bigger.” - DJ
“How am I expected to save shots in a goal that's so big? When the adults come to
take the nets down they use a step ladder!” Adam

The bare statistics back these views up. "The fastest-growing kid grows 2.5cm in the three or four months between leaving mini-soccer at under 10s and starting 11 v 11," says Nick Levett. "In that time, we increase the size of the goal by 265% and the size of the pitch by 435%."

 By introducing an intermediate-sized pitch, Nick Levett from the FA hopes

to remove the temptation to play a "territorial game" with the biggest kids at the back and the fastest kids up front.
The smaller pitch, he hopes, will encourage teams to play through the thirds, thus giving kids more touches of the ball and more chance to develop their skills while still moving towards an understanding of the full-size game.

The 9 v 9 game will be largely welcomed by the grassroots community according to a Club Website poll from May 2010, when 74% of members said they favoured using 9 v 9 as a "stepping stone" from mini-soccer to the 11-a-side game.
Of course, there will be valid concerns over how teams can accommodate another format of football,when ground space for pitches is already at a premium. Aware of the issue around facilities, Nick Levett says the F A's solution is "not about losing 11 v 11 pitches; it's about being more creative with how we use them."

The solution - already happening in 9 v 9 Leagues around the country - is to use existing 11-a-side pitches and mark out 9 v 9 pitches in blue lines, with either one pitch from box to box or two pitches across half a pich .
 
Portable intermediate-sized (16' x 7') goalposts will also required, but the F A are currently working with the Football Foundation to make funding available for these as part of the Grow the Game scheme, while Sport England can provide funding for 9 v 9 goalposts via the small grants scheme available to Leagues.

Nick Levett believes that the FA can learn lessons from the 110 leagues already playing 9 v 9 across England, thus helping them to implement the new format across the country. "Working locally I think we can find solutions to any problems," he says. "It is about us opening our minds and being creative doing that."

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