‘The only limitations you have as a coach are that of your players and the your own willingness to learn’.

Want to get creative? Want your players to do the same? Today’s blog is geared around session planning.

• What goes into your session planning?
• What considerations do you have?
• How do you get the most out of your players?
• How do you know if the dots are being connected?

What goes into session planning?

Here are a few simple tips to consider when planning your session –

• What do I want to teach?
• What activities will help me to reach my learning objectives?
• How will the session flow?
• Will the players love it?

After laying out some clear objectives and selecting some good activity choices to support your training session, break down each phase and think about what information you want to layer in. 1 or 2 coaching points at each stage is a nice way to keep it simple and not overwhelm players with too much information.

When transitioning between activities, does my setup need to change? Starting with the end in mind and working backwards from that point may help you to pick up/put down less equipment and allow a smoother session from start to finish.

Lastly, if they won’t love it, is it worth doing?

Considerations for your environment

There are a ton of considerations for your environment when planning your session. To keep it simple, I’ll only mention a few (remember you can always reach out if you wish to discuss anything further!)

Space – Always a tough one. To refer back to ‘what goes into session planning’, plan with the end in mind. Set up activities within activities to make field usage as efficient as possible.

Number of players – Think about setting up the same activity multiple times in order for players to gain adequate repetitions needed in order for them to develop.

Playing Surface – Playing on grass, turf or ground may make a significant difference to the success rate for players within your practice. Are you mentally prepared for error? Remember that the surface may create a challenge within itself and that players may deal with it in different ways. If it’s something you’ve done before, remember it may not look perfect and the surface may have a lot to do with it.

Arrival/Departures – Do you have kids that arrive late? And some who leave early? Planning drop in activities can help you at the beginning of practice as you’re not dependent on numbers to make it work. Remember that having the ability to adapt may be one of the greatest qualities a coach can have. What will you do if the correct number doesn’t show up? What is the minimum and maximum number of players for you to be able to work with in your planned activities? Do you have something else in your back pocket that you can go-to if you’re thrown a major curve ball?

How will you get the most out of your players?

Plan for success! What would some model behaviors look like in your session? Once I know the standard that I’m looking for, I can use players to model it to the group when I find it.

PLANNED QUESTIONS! – a great way to check for understanding within your session. They may struggle with technical mastery and/or application in the correct situation, but they may still understand what you want them to have learned. Think about the quality of your questioning and how you can draw out ‘what they know’.

To reference Mr. Doug Lemov ~ “Know the difference between I taught it, and they learned it!”

Stretch them! – Are you able to provide the right amount of ‘stretch’ for all players in the group, while remembering that this may be different for many of the players you have? Can I progress/increase the challenge for strivers, while potentially decreasing the challenge for those who may struggle?

How will you know if the dots are being connected?

Coach Lambert ~ “Ask me in 20 years and we’ll see how successful these boys are. Then I’ll be able to tell you if I succeeded as a coach.”