For three years, I planned sessions the same way. Sunday evening, I would browse coaching websites looking for interesting drills. Find something that looked good. Hope it connected to what we had done before. Show up Tuesday and run whatever I had found.
Players enjoyed the sessions. Parents seemed happy. But at the end of each season, I could not point to specific skills that had developed. Improvements happened, but they felt accidental rather than intentional.
Then a more experienced coach asked me a question that changed everything.
The Question That Exposed The Problem
“What is your six-month development goal for this group?”
I could not answer. I had no six-month goal. I had Tuesday’s session planned. Barely.
“If you do not know where you are going,” he said, “every drill is equally good. And equally useless.”
That observation hit hard because it explained something I had felt but could not articulate. Despite hundreds of hours coaching, my players were not developing systematically. They were experiencing activities. That is different from developing skills.
The Realisation
Random planning produces random development. Not because the drills are bad. Because there is no connecting thread.
Week one, we worked on passing. Week two, something about defending. Week three, I found an interesting dribbling activity. Week four, we played games because I had not had time to plan.
Each session stood alone. Skills got introduced but never reinforced. Concepts got touched but never developed. Players experienced variety without depth.
The experienced coach showed me his planning notebook. Six-month goals broken into monthly themes. Monthly themes broken into weekly progressions. Weekly progressions that built from simple to complex over four sessions.
Nothing random. Everything connected.
What Changed When I Started With Goals
I sat down that Sunday and wrote what I actually wanted for these players in six months. Real skills, not vague hopes.
I wanted their first touch to set up the next action instead of killing the ball. I wanted them comfortable receiving under pressure instead of panicking when opponents closed. I wanted decision-making speed to improve instead of every player taking four touches before looking up.
Three goals. Six months. Now every session had to serve one of those goals or it did not belong in the plan.
The drill that looked interesting but did not connect to first touch, receiving, or decision-making? I passed. The activity that was fun but developed nothing we were working on? Saved for another time.
Suddenly planning became clearer. Not “what looks good this week” but “what is the next step toward the goal we are pursuing.”
The Block That Taught Me Everything
I devoted four weeks to first touch development. Just first touch. Nothing else as primary focus.
Week one, we worked on receiving without pressure. Ball arriving from different angles, different surfaces of the foot, different heights. High repetitions, lots of success, technique correction opportunities.
By Thursday, players were receiving cleanly in isolation. They had always been able to do that. Nothing had changed yet.
Week two, we added movement. Receiving while running. First touch in the direction of the next action. Partners competing against each other to receive and turn fastest.
Now decisions appeared. Where should the touch go? What foot should I receive with? The technique from week one met decision-making from week two.
Week three, defenders arrived. Passive at first, then increasingly active. Checking shoulders before receiving. Body position to protect the ball. Quick choices about whether to turn, lay off, or hold.
The skill that had been comfortable in isolation now faced realistic pressure. Players who had looked solid in week one struggled. Others who had seemed average discovered they handled pressure better than expected.
Week four, we played. Multiple game formats, no artificial conditions about first touch. Just football. I watched for transfer.
And there it was. Players checking shoulders before receiving. First touches going forward instead of stopping the ball. Decisions made quickly because they had practiced making them.
Four weeks on one skill produced more visible improvement than months of random variety.
The Structure That Emerged
Every session started following the same pattern. Foundation, where we reviewed and built confidence. Challenge, where new complexity appeared. Application, where skills met realistic game situations.
The first fifteen minutes connected to what we had done before. Players arrived knowing the theme would continue, not restart. Confidence built because they were not starting over each session.
The middle portion introduced appropriate challenge. Not overwhelming difficulty that created failure. Progressive difficulty that stretched without breaking.
The final portion let them apply everything in games. Less coaching, more playing. Transfer from practice to competitive context.
This structure worked regardless of the specific skill being developed. Passing, defending, attacking, positioning. Foundation, challenge, application. The content changed; the framework stayed consistent.
What I Noticed In Players
Something shifted beyond the specific skill improvements.
Players arrived knowing what to expect. Not the specific activities, but the structure. Warm-up would connect to theme. Technical work would progress from last session. Games would test what we had practiced.
This predictability created security that enabled risk-taking. Players tried things in the challenge portion because they knew the foundation portion had prepared them. They attempted skills in games because practice had built competence.
The random variety approach I had used before kept players guessing, but guessing is not the same as learning. Predictable structure with progressive challenge produces development that guessing cannot.
The Sunday Fifteen Minutes
Planning stopped being a Sunday evening burden and became a fifteen-minute routine.
Three minutes reviewing notes from the previous session. What worked. What needed more time. Any individual observations worth remembering.
Two minutes checking long-term goals. Are we progressing toward what we planned? Does focus need adjusting?
Two minutes selecting which template fits this week. Technical focus? Tactical development? Game preparation?
Five minutes adapting specific activities. What exercises for each phase? What equipment? What space?
Three minutes preparing coaching points. What to watch for. Questions to ask. Progressions if needed.
Fifteen minutes. Session planned. Connected to what came before. Building toward what comes next.
The Mistake I Stopped Making
I used to choose activities because they looked engaging. Fun drills with interesting setups that players enjoyed.
Now I ask: what does this develop? How does it connect to our goals? Where does it fit in our progression?
Fun still matters. Engagement still matters. But engagement without development is entertainment, not coaching. The activities I choose now are engaging because they are appropriately challenging, not because they are novel.
Players do not need constant novelty. They need progressive challenge within familiar structure. The variety comes from increasing complexity, not changing topics.
What Happens Over Seasons
The first season with systematic planning felt like a revelation. Skills developed that I could actually point to. Progress that was visible and measurable.
The second season, I refined the approach. Better progressions. Clearer connections between blocks. More efficient use of limited training time.
By the third season, players were arriving at each age group with foundations their predecessors lacked. The systematic approach had compound effects. Skills built on skills. Understanding built on understanding.
Players who had been with me since U8 reached U12 with technique and game intelligence that stood out. Not because they were more talented. Because their development had been intentional rather than accidental.
The Approach That Works
Start with where you want players to be, not what drill looks interesting this week. Define goals that span months, not sessions.
Break those goals into blocks of four to six weeks. Each block focuses on one primary development area. Sessions within blocks progress from simple to complex, from isolation to pressure to game application.
Use consistent session structures. Players learn what to expect, which creates security for challenge. Foundation builds confidence. Challenge stretches ability. Application tests transfer.
Track progress through simple notes. What worked, what needs more time, what individual observations matter. These notes inform the next session and the next block.
Connect everything. Tuesday’s session builds on the previous Thursday. This month’s block builds on last month’s. This season’s development builds on last season’s foundation.
The Question That Guides Everything
Before every session, every block, every season: where do I want these players to be, and what is the next step toward getting there?
That question eliminates the random drill browsing. It eliminates the “what should we do this week” uncertainty. It creates clarity that makes planning faster and execution more purposeful.
The fifteen minutes of systematic planning I resisted for years turned out to be the investment that transformed my coaching. Not more time. Better use of time.
Your players deserve intentional development, not random activity. The difference is a system. The system is not complicated. It just requires deciding where you are going before choosing how to get there.
Ready for systematic planning support?
The Football Coaching Academy provides complete session frameworks and development blocks for every age group. Join 1,600+ coaches who stopped guessing and started building. $1/month to start.