The coaching blog

Notes from the touchline

Short, practical pieces for anyone coaching kids: what to do on Tuesday, what to say on Saturday and what to stop worrying about entirely.

All posts 60 Club life 4 Coaching 10 Development 12 Goalkeeping 4 Match day 10 Parents 7 Sessions 13
Club lifeThe end-of-season awards night without tears (mostly yours)
Club life10 June 20262 min

The end-of-season awards night without tears (mostly yours)

Player of the Year sounds harmless until you watch the faces of the kids who never win anything. How to run an awards evening that celebrates a whole squad honestly.

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Club lifeThe 14-year-old with the whistle: looking after young referees
Club life29 April 20262 min

The 14-year-old with the whistle: looking after young referees

That nervous teenager refereeing your under-10s is doing their first ever match. Why young officials quit in droves, and what one coach and one sideline can do about it.

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Club lifeWhen a child says they want to quit
Club life22 October 20252 min

When a child says they want to quit

Usually it arrives second-hand, through a parent, in a message on a Tuesday afternoon. What happens in the next few days decides whether they play football at seventeen.

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Club lifeHanding the team over at the end of the season
Club life8 October 20252 min

Handing the team over at the end of the season

Most teams are handed over with a shrug and a squad list. Two hours of work in June saves the next coach - and the children - an entire autumn.

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