Pick an age group, how long you have, what you want to work on, and how many players turned up. You get a timed session plan with drills, coaching points, and how to split the squad for each block.
Session plan
Dribbling & 1v1 · U11–U12 · 75 min
Players attack a defender at speed and beat them with a repeatable move.
The best age for skill acquisition. Heavy on repetition with opposition, light on positional instruction.
0–12 min
Arrival & warm-up
14 players, a ball each
Ball mastery in a grid
Setup: A ball each in a 20x20 grid.
Sole rolls, inside-outside touches, and drag-backs on a call. Add a "find a new space" command every 30 seconds.
Coaching point: Heads up between touches, not glued to the ball.
12–30 min
Technical
3 groups of 4 + 1 group of 2
Move gates
Setup: Cone gates scattered in a 25x25 area.
Dribble to a gate, execute a chosen move before it, accelerate through. Two moves only.
Coaching point: The acceleration out of the move is what beats a defender, not the move itself.
30–51 min
Skill practice
7 groups of 2
1v1 to a line
Setup: 12x20 channels, one ball per pair.
Attacker carries the ball over the defender's end line. Rotate after each rep.
Coaching point: Keep the channel narrow — a wide one lets pace win and teaches nothing.
Longer than this age group holds attention — run it as two halves with a water break between.
51–70 min
Conditioned game
3 teams of 4, winner stays on
Dribble-in game
Setup: Small-sided game, two end zones.
A goal only counts if a player dribbles the ball over the end line under control.
Coaching point: Reward the attempt, not just the success, or they stop trying.
Longer than this age group holds attention — run it as two halves with a water break between.
70–75 min
Cool-down & review
Whole squad together
Bring the group in. Ask two questions about what they just did rather than telling them what you saw — they remember their own answers.
How the timings are built
Session length is split across five blocks — arrival and warm-up, technical work, skill practice with opposition, a conditioned game, and a short review. The conditioned game absorbs any rounding, because a session that ends on a game is the one players come back to.
Each age group has a realistic attention span attached to it. When a block runs longer than that, the plan says so and tells you to break it in two rather than grinding through it. That single adjustment is the difference between a plan that works on paper and one that works on grass.
Using it well
One focus per session. A practice that works on passing, finishing, defending and fitness improves none of them.
Let the game teach. The conditioned game is not a reward at the end — it is where the session's theme has to show up under real pressure.
Coach less than you want to. Two clear coaching points per block is plenty. The one printed with each drill is the one that matters most.
Plan for who turned up. Change the player count and the group splits change with it. Queues are the most common way a good drill fails.
Working with wingers
The wing play focus pairs with the player-side guides — crossing drills, 1v1 dribbling drills and how to play winger — which you can send to a player who wants to work on it between sessions.