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
SessionsWarm-ups that are actually worth the ten minutes
Sessions15 August 20262 min

Warm-ups that are actually worth the ten minutes

Nobody has ever become a better footballer by jogging round a pitch. What to do with the first ten minutes instead, and why the ball goes out before the cones do.

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SessionsWhat to do when only five kids turn up
Sessions13 August 20262 min

What to do when only five kids turn up

Half-term, flu season, a birthday party. Every coach gets the Tuesday where five children arrive for a session planned for fourteen. Here is how to make it the best session of the month.

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SessionsCoaching in the rain: the winter session that still works
Sessions11 August 20262 min

Coaching in the rain: the winter session that still works

Wet, dark, cold and half the squad is thinking about going home. Winter sessions need a different plan, not a shorter one.

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SessionsHow to run a session on half a pitch, sharing with two other teams
Sessions10 August 20262 min

How to run a session on half a pitch, sharing with two other teams

Most grassroots coaches never get a full pitch to themselves. Planning for a cramped quarter of a field is a skill, and it is mostly about geometry.

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SessionsHow to run a rondo that teaches something
Sessions14 July 20264 min

How to run a rondo that teaches something

Most rondos are a warm-up with a ball in the middle. Here is how to turn the same circle into the best fifteen minutes of your session.

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SessionsSmall-sided games beat drills, and it is not close
Sessions9 July 20264 min

Small-sided games beat drills, and it is not close

Four against four gives a child five times the touches of a queue-based drill and forces a decision with every one of them. What the numbers look like, and how to run them well.

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SessionsThe first training session: the 60 minutes that set your whole season
Sessions24 June 20264 min

The first training session: the 60 minutes that set your whole season

You will never have their attention like you do in the first hour. Here is how to spend it, minute by minute, and the three things you should deliberately not do.

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SessionsThe four drills you should stop running tomorrow
Sessions17 June 20262 min

The four drills you should stop running tomorrow

They look like coaching, they feel organised, and they are the four biggest wastes of a Tuesday evening in youth football.

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SessionsThe last sessions of the season: finish loud, finish warm
Sessions27 May 20262 min

The last sessions of the season: finish loud, finish warm

Legs are tired, the league is decided, and attention is at the beach already. Why the final weeks matter more than mid-season, and session ideas that end the year the right way.

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