Short, practical pieces for anyone coaching kids: what to do on Tuesday, what to say on Saturday and what to stop worrying about entirely.
You do not need a twelve-week periodised curriculum. You need four blocks, one theme each, and the discipline to stay on the theme for longer than you want to.
Coaching feels like talking. It mostly is not. What happens when you cut your instructions in half, and the four questions worth more than any lecture.
The armband usually goes to the best player or the loudest voice, and stays there for years. What captaincy is actually for at youth level, and the case for rotating it through everyone.
You are not fighting for attention at minute forty. You lost it at minute three, standing in the middle of a field with a bag of cones and twelve bored children.
The feedback sandwich is a management technique for adults, and children see straight through it. Four things that work better, and one that undoes everything.
Fifteen minutes in, nobody is listening, the exercise is not working and you can feel the evening slipping. Every coach has been there. Here is the recovery.
Most assistant coaches spend the season collecting balls and holding the bibs. That is a waste of the single most valuable resource you have.
A nutmeg that got laughed at, an own goal, three bad games in a row - and suddenly a brave player goes hiding. How confidence actually breaks, and the slow honest way back.
Every squad has one: never speaks in the circle, avoids your eye, disappears in crowds. Why quiet is not a flaw, and how to coach a child the loud methods miss.
625 drills, 50 printable templates and a free coach app that keeps your squad, sessions, line-ups and playing time in one place.
Create your free account