Lowick Utd Junior Coaching Resources
Technical Syllabus | Index of Drills | Session Plans | Warming Up | Goal Setting
"Fail to prepare: Prepare to fail" - Benjamin Franklin
Having a good collection of drills and games does not make a good coach. Planning a session should begin with a clear idea of what you want to communicate to your players, drills are only a tool help you facilitate learning. Rather than reacting to the most recent game, have a bigger plan of how you can help develop your squad over the longer term.
This area of the website contains lots of resources including a summary of the main coaching points of fifteen basic skills. To help to coach these there are almost a hundred drills & games, more than 50 examples of session plans and lots more content.
- Taking time in advance to prepare your session is essential
- Do you have a specific idea about what it is you want to teach your group?
- Get the session set up in advance, let the players see you mean business
- Use a visual aid to communicate your drill to the group
- Give players some responsibility and let them make decisions
- Always try to put skills in the context of the real game
- Don't keep saying "Well done" make praise genuine and specific
- Avoid long queues at all costs! Improve your planning to keep all your players active
- Whenever possible introduce an element of competition into training games
- Watch your timing - Allow sufficient time for a small-sided game
- Don't join in - get out the way and observe how much learning has taken place
- If a player is disruptive keep calm, have them sit out until they are ready to behave
- Don't be too critical, wait for the good stuff to happen and make a big deal of it
- Keep your sense of humour, if it isn't fun what's the point?
- Review your session. Was it Safe? Was it fun? Was it effective?
Put your own personal style and experience into each session, you will find many ways to adapt and improve these practices. You will neeed to adjust them to suit the age, skill and experience of your group. It is essential to take time to read the linked coaching points and technical syllabus. Be specific about your purpose for each session. Try to connect new things to what players already know and put everything in the context of the "real" game. Be content to add one piece of the jigsaw at a time and keep it challenging and fun.