Would you like your players to spread out? Spread the goals

With our U10 girls team, about half the team is in their 2nd year, so they still have a tendency to cluster around the ball rather than take advantage of the open space on the pitch. Last year, when we played the split goal games (2 goals on each end of the field separated by a pretty significant gap), they would all end up in one corner fighting for the ball. Yesterday, they were thinking. It didn't take any coaching for the girls to start switching the point of attack, and even better, anticipating it defensively as well.

So if you ever catch yourself telling your players to "spread out", you may as well be telling them "stop playing"; it means the same thing from their perspective. Instead, play the split-goal game and let the game teach them the advantages of using the width of the field.