Should you teach skills or tactics to young players?

In my experience, there is little advantage in teaching players under10 too much about tactics and formations.

I would recommend that coaching players under 10 years of age should concentrate on technical skills, and primarily dribbling and feeling comfortable with the ball

Players older than 10 do have a better feel for team work and strategies, but I would try and keep the strategies simple, like:

• move the ball forward whenever possible
  
• pass the ball into space for the forwards to run on to etc.
• kick the ball wide when coming out from defense etc
• make sure that the nearest defender "closes down" (put pressure on) the attacker with the ball
  

I have used the Ball Mastery techniques from Coerver with great success, as once the players have good technical skills and ball control, it is far easier to progress to more tactical training
drills and sessions.

See my review of the Coerver Coaching System by Clicking Here

A fun game to help practice the push pass

At an early stage, young players must learn how to use the push pass.
The push pass is the most used pass in soccer, and is the most accurate.
The push pass is done with the inside of the foot, and because it has the greatest surface area, it is the most accurate way to pass a soccer ball.
There is a great page on how to do a push pass here

Playing the One-Two game
One of the best games that I have played with my son is called "One-Two".
The rules are very simple, and needs two players and one ball.

1. You just pass the ball to each other over a distance of 5-10 yards
2. When you pass the ball you call out either "one" or "two"

• If you call out "one", then the other player must play the ball to you with one touch. That is first time
  
• If you call out "two", then the other player must play the ball back to you with two touches. That is control the ball with one touch and then pass the ball
  

1. When the other player plays the ball back to you, they call out either "one" or "two"
2. , and the pattern continues

Scoring
To make this a game, a simple scoring system is used.

• If the player fails to make a good pass, you get a point
• If the player fails to pass the ball with the right number of touches, you get a point
• If the player does not call out "one" or "two", you get a point

Of course you can change the rules and scoring to suit, but keeping it simple is the best way to go.
I have played this numerous times, and we always have fun with it, so give it a go!

PS I have used a number of drills from the Coerver Coaching System
See my review of the Coerver Coaching System by Clicking Here