Moving from the cooperative 1+1 environment to a fun competitive 1v1 game is a natural progression for the players, and having seen it's effectiveness with an older team at the National D course in Stockton, I have taken to recording the results and charting the progress of my players on a weekly basis. Following a serve that supports the 1+1 theme, the players 'duel' for 1 minute. They try to score as many goals as they can in the period and they keep and report their own score before rotating to face their next opponent. Each player competes against every other player at the practice. There is no correction or comment from the coaching staff, only observation and score recording on completion of each round. The players get 3 points for every game they win and 1 point for a tie. We graph the points and also the goal difference.

The results below are for 2 weeks and the players names have been replaced by letters. The weaker players have turned up their intensity and are practicing their 1 v 1 skills outside of the organized practice environment in order to allow them to progress to the left of the chart. You can guarantee that the player that finishes on the far right (player N) will not be in that position the following week. The top four players each week are rewarded with a starting position in our next tournament opening game. I have seen solid and measurable improvement in my player's motivation and individual skills in a very short period by using this method. Moving from the cooperative 1+1 environment to a fun competitive 1v1 game is a natural progression for the players, and having seen it's effectiveness with an older team at the National D course in Stockton, I have taken to recording the results and charting the progress of my players on a weekly basis. Following a serve that supports the 1+1 theme, the players 'duel' for 1 minute. They try to score as many goals as they can in the period and they keep and report their own score before rotating to face their next opponent. Each player competes against every other player at the practice. There is no correction or comment from the coaching staff, only observation and score recording on completion of each round. The players get 3 points for every game they win and 1 point for a tie. We graph the points and also the goal difference. The results below are for 2 weeks and the players names have been replaced by letters. The weaker players have turned up their intensity and are practicing their 1 v 1 skills outside of the organized practice environment in order to allow them to progress to the left of the chart. You can guarantee that the player that finishes on the far right (player N) will not be in that position the following week. The top four players each week are rewarded with a starting position in our next tournament opening game. I have seen solid and measurable improvement in my player's motivation and individual skills in a very short period by using this method.