Top Tip Tuesday

This one is for the coaches (but also good for parents to know).

Don’t waste valuable time in your sessions by getting kids to run laps and stretch.

We still see this far too much from a lot of junior teams.

Do you remember when we were kids and we used to do a 10-minute warm up before we started playing football in the street?

No.

So why do you think your players need to!

You likely only have 1 hour with them for training.

That isn’t a whole lot of time to help them get better at football.

Taking 10-15 mins out of the session where they don’t touch a ball is a quarter of your time gone.

Think of how much that would be over a season!

Instead, think about starting your sessions with free-play small-sided arrival matches.

Not only will they be ready for the session, but it means they also have more fun and actually play the game you want them to get better at.

There comes an age when a ‘proper’ warm up is needed but, particularly, in the primary school years, you will get a lot more out of your sessions by making sure ball time/game play is maximised.