Fascinating read.

I thought I was the best as a child for many a year. Just wasn't driven enough / didn't have the athleticism required, probably, when it came to the crunch. Pretty much gave up on the game, participation-wise anyway, by the time I got to university.

As a child, it was all about running at defenders (with the ball) as fast as you could. Unsettle them. And fight for every ball. Then there was no better feeling than putting the ball in the back of the net. With your friends, you'd all have different strengths but you were an attacker (ie. someone who played the game the right way, in my eyes) or a defender (someone whose sole purpose was to stop others playing the game well). If you didn't have the ball, be ready to receive at all and any times. If you got into good goalscoring positions, unmarked, you could hardly fail to put some away!

Being right-footed, I felt an early age it to be of great importance to work on using my left with confidence whenever the opportunity arose and I think that's something you should be teaching those kids of yours. If you have to get the ball onto your stronger foot to be able to pass / shoot, you're giving the opposition a chance to take the ball off you. To improve your weaker foot, first hit volleys with it. They'll soon get more accurate / powerful / deft. Then, moving balls. I'd probably never want to take a dead-ball with my left, though! ;)

As you get older, you start understanding the need for tactics, of course. Win that ball as quickly as you can. The opposition can't hurt you if they don't have it, so don't waste it / try to keep possession of it as long as you can. Then, remember tempo. You want frantic football at times (when it suits your team), you want slow football at other times (again, when it suits you best). There's always a time / place / opposition where boring the socks off / frustrating your opponent will pay dividends. At least, for part of the match.

Winning is everything, just don't cheat / be unsporting. I'd rather lose graciously than win dishonourably. (Which is half the problem in the professional game, we see today, unfortunately.) If you want to win, you need to outscore the opposition, simply. Keep focussed at the back. Get your creative attackers having early shots - after the first effort, the second is almost always so much easier with a better chance of a goal resulting.

Welcome to the site. :D