The rules of the game for U9 and U10 are the same: 7 vs 7, goalkeeper, an offside line, no limit on substitutions, rooster of 11 or 12 players, 50% playing time. Returning players will be familiar with the rules.
Within those constraints, and with the learning objective for the season to learn about movement without the ball, we are going to organize the team with a defensive line of 3 players, an offensive line of 3 players, rotating lines in and out, hockey-style.
The objective of practices will be to create and maintain triangles around the ball carrier. As a result, we will pick training exercises that focus on 3v3, 3v2, and 3v1. Since the team will have at least one assistant coach, it will be possible to plan separate activities running in parallel.
It is still unclear if we should specialize players in defensive and offensive lines, or always substitute in the offensive line, effectively rotating players between an offensive and defensive position during games.
We are leaning towards a player having a fixed position within a line (left, center, right), but we are still debating if the same 3 players will always be part of the same line or not.
It is possible that headers are allowed in U10 games, so we will gently introduce them during technical training.
For practical implementation, we will keep following the tips in the Youth Soccer Coaching Crash Course.