Before You Begin: Running the Sessions

Module: Master The Ball: 1-11 Years Old Classroom: Use The 360TFT Game Model Original Location: https://www.skool.com/football-coaching-academy-5676/classroom

TLDR

You’ve explored the philosophy, understood the players, and seen how Core Topics spiral through the 16-week programme. Now it’s time to take everything to the pitch. This section helps you move from planning to doing with practical guidance for running sessions that build confidence, clarity, and consistency.

Three key reminders: you’re not trying to run a perfect session but build confident players; repetition isn’t laziness but learning; and every moment sets the tone, especially in the first few weeks. Follow the four-phase structure but adapt to your players’ energy levels, ability, and group size.

Stay anchored in the Game Model through Moment (attacking, defending, transitioning), Slice (defensive, middle, attacking third), and Situation (1v1, space, pressure). Your role is to teach, not tell. Keep explanations short, use questions to guide discovery, praise effort and decisions not just success, let them try and fail, and observe before intervening.

Use the weekly coach checklist covering core focus, preparation, success criteria, coaching the actual players, and behavioural expectations. Read and manage group energy constantly, maintaining technical quality within fun activities through quality checkpoints and individual coaching within group flow.

Manage smooth transitions between phases, recognise success indicators for technical, tactical, and engagement elements, and know modification decision points for frustration, boredom, technique breakdown, or chaos. When sessions don’t go to plan, go slower, ask better questions, adjust space, or step back and watch. Start Week 1 with clarity, calm confidence, and high standards. Trust the process, your players, and that systematic development creates lasting results.

Ready to Coach: From Planning to Practice

You’ve explored the philosophy. You’ve understood the players. You’ve seen how the Core Topics spiral through the 16-week programme.

Now it’s time to take everything to the pitch.

This section helps you move from planning to doing. It’s your practical guide to running sessions that build confidence, clarity, and consistency from Week 1 onwards.

Three Key Reminders

You’re Not Trying to Run a Perfect Session

You’re trying to build confident players. If they leave smiling, having learned or applied one thing clearly, you’re winning. Perfection is the enemy of progress.

Repetition Isn’t Laziness - It’s Learning

Just because the structure feels familiar doesn’t mean it’s the same experience. Players need to revisit ideas multiple times to truly understand and own them.

Every Moment Sets the Tone

Especially in those crucial first few weeks. Your routines, expectations, and tone of voice all shape the learning environment that will define the entire programme.

Follow the Structure - But Adapt to Your Players

Each session is built around four key phases that provide rhythm and natural progression. This structure isn’t rigid - it’s a framework you can adapt based on your players’ energy levels, ability, and group size.

Even if you need to shorten the session dramatically, follow this flow. Let it guide the learning journey from individual technique through to match application.

The structure works because it mirrors how players naturally learn: repetition builds confidence, context creates understanding, and freedom allows expression.

Stay Anchored in the Game Model

Every session connects to how we understand football through three essential lenses:

Moment

Are we attacking, defending, or transitioning between the two?

Slice

What area of the pitch are we working in - defensive third, middle third, or attacking third?

Situation

What’s happening around the player? Are they in a 1v1? Is there space to exploit? Are they under pressure?

You don’t need to announce this framework to young players every session, but use it to guide your coaching decisions and shape your interventions. It keeps everything relevant to the actual game.

Your Role: Teach, Don’t Tell

At this age, we’re not just delivering isolated actions. We’re developing habits, awareness, and independent thinking that will serve players for years.

Keep Explanations Short

Show them what you want, then let them try it. Long explanations kill energy and engagement.

Use Questions to Guide Discovery

“What worked well there?” is more powerful than “Do this instead.” Guide their thinking rather than providing all the answers.

Praise Effort and Decisions, Not Just Success

Celebrate the player who attempts a skill under pressure, even if it doesn’t come off perfectly.

Let Them Try, Fail, and Try Again

Mistakes are learning opportunities. Create an environment where failure is safe and expected.

Observe Before Intervening

Sometimes the best coaching decision is to watch and see what players figure out independently.

Coach Checklist (Use Weekly)

Before every session, ask yourself these essential questions:

• Do I know the core focus for this session and how it fits the bigger picture?
• Have I checked numbers, space, and equipment - am I prepared for what I actually have?
• Have I thought about what success looks like for today’s specific group?
• Am I coaching the players in front of me, not just following the plan blindly?
• Have I reminded players of The Rules and behavioural expectations?

This simple checklist prevents most session problems before they start.

Reading and Managing Group Energy

Effective coaches read their group’s energy constantly and adjust accordingly. Energy management is as important as technical instruction.

High Energy Groups:

• Channel energy into competitive activities
• Use more intense, faster-paced exercises
• Implement cooling-down periods with technical focus
• Set clear boundaries early and maintain them consistently

Low Energy Groups:

• Start with engaging warm-ups that build excitement
• Use music or competitive elements to lift energy
• Keep instructions brief and get them moving quickly
• Introduce fun challenges and celebrations

Mixed Energy Groups:

• Pair high-energy players with steady influences
• Use activities that allow different energy levels to contribute
• Rotate between calming and energising activities
• Address individual energy needs within group activities

Maintaining Technical Quality Within Fun Activities

The challenge isn’t choosing between fun and quality - it’s achieving both simultaneously.

Quality Checkpoints:

• Use brief ‘pause and perfect’ moments during activities
• Celebrate good technique as enthusiastically as goals
• Set technique challenges within games (“Can you use both feet in this game?”)
• Make quality execution part of the competition

Individual Coaching Within Group Flow:

• Coach on the move - give feedback as you circulate
• Use positive examples from one player to teach others
• Pull players aside briefly for individual guidance without stopping the group
• Use questions that help players self-correct

Session Flow and Transition Management

Smooth transitions between session phases maintain momentum and prevent lost learning time.

Transition Strategies:

Ball Mastery to Contextual Game:

• “Everyone bring your ball to the middle and grab a partner”
• Use equipment collection as natural transition time
• Brief explanation while they’re moving, not standing still

Contextual Game to Small-Sided Game:

• “Same partners, new challenge in this area”
• Build on what they just practised rather than starting fresh
• Use success from previous phase to create confidence

Small-Sided Game to Match Play:

• “Let’s see this in a real game now”
• Minimal rule changes - let them apply what they’ve learned
• Step back and observe rather than constantly coaching

Between Rounds/Activities:

• Keep players moving during setup changes
• Use reflection questions during natural pauses
• Rotate roles (servers become players, players become servers)

Success Recognition During Sessions

Know what to look for to confirm learning is happening:

Technical Success Indicators:

• Players attempting skills under pressure
• Improved success rate through repetition
• Using both feet naturally
• Maintaining technique when pace increases

Tactical Success Indicators:

• Players scanning before receiving
• Making decisions faster
• Choosing appropriate techniques for situations
• Supporting teammates effectively

Engagement Success Indicators:

• Players asking for “one more go”
• Helping teammates without being asked
• Celebrating others’ success
• Staying focused during explanations

Modification Decision Points

Clear triggers for when and how to adapt:

When Players Look Frustrated:

• Reduce pressure or complexity
• Make space bigger to allow more time
• Focus on success-based activities
• Ask what they’re finding difficult

When Players Look Bored:

• Add pressure or challenge
• Make space smaller to increase intensity
• Introduce competition elements
• Progress to next level of complexity

When Technique Breaks Down:

• Slow the activity down
• Remove pressure temporarily
• Return to unopposed practice
• Check if the challenge is age-appropriate

When Chaos Takes Over:

• Stop and reset expectations
• Simplify rules dramatically
• Use smaller groups
• Return to more structured activities

If It Doesn’t Go To Plan

That’s completely okay.

Sessions don’t need to be perfect to be powerful. When players are struggling, you have options:

Go Slower

Reduce the complexity and focus on one element at a time rather than rushing through everything.

Ask Better Questions

Help them discover solutions rather than providing constant correction.

Adjust the Space

Make areas bigger if they need more time, smaller if they need more pressure.

Step Back and Watch

Sometimes the best learning moments come from your silence, not your instruction.

Trust that learning is happening even when it doesn’t look exactly like your plan.

Final Thought

This is where everything begins.

Start Week 1 with clarity, calm confidence, and high standards for effort and engagement. You’ve done the groundwork through understanding the philosophy and framework.

Now trust the process. Trust your players. Trust that systematic development creates lasting results.

The Game Model works when you work with it, not against it.

Let’s get started.

This content is part of the 360TFT Football Coaching Academy - Use The 360TFT Game Model