Hi,

The first time I had to take charge of my son's training session was a dread. Sure, I was also excited, but what I was feeling most was nervous and insecure.

No one really prepares you for that moment, whether it is something you've signed up for (more or less) voluntarily, or if it's just as a one-off substitute coach filling in for the day. If you're ever in the same situation, please read on, as I really think it might help you too.

No one tells you that depending on the age of the kids, they won't listen, they won't sit still, they have peculiar ideas of what is fun, and what should be allowed to be done on a football pitch.

No one tells you about the looks from other parents standing on the sideline. They may well be well-meaning, but they don't feel like it when you're stood there trying to figure out what the heck you're doing, on the fly, when nothing seems to be working the way it was supposed to.

Those feelings didn't go away immediately, even though I was as prepared as one can be, outside of being a PE teacher I guess. I was used to standing in front of groups of patients, I actually enjoy giving talks and presentations, so it should've been a walk in the park, right?

Wrong.

In my infinite wisdom, I tried to overcomplicate things early on. I was planning 6 parts to an hour-long training session, having to run around just to set up the next part, never mind getting time to observe and ask the kids questions that would help their game.

What helped me turn the corner was the realisation that the term "simple, not easy" isn't just a memorable catch-phrase.

It is what ultimately let me run training sessions alone with 10 kids, much less stressed, nervous and insecure.

In fact, I started enjoying it, and from the kids' feedback, so did they.

In practical terms, here's what I did that changed my and the kids' experience of training sessions:

• Instead of 6 parts, I planned 2 or 3. That's not to say we would do one small-sided game and a full-sized game, and that was that. Rather, taking a much broader overview, where rules and pitch-sizes could be changed, but where the outcomes and goals would stay the same for the session.
• I realised that if I wanted to run training sessions the way I would have wanted to, that would include a lot more "playing real football", rather than setting up cones and grids and whatnot. Not only did the kids enjoy it far more, it was also way less stressful for me to set up. I didn't have to run around just to get the next part of the training session ready, because I had marked out a pitch before training started, and I could more or less change and adapt that as needed throughout.
• Having thought through 2 alternative games each training session, where I would ask the kids which one they would like to play that day. Keep in mind these kids were 7-9 years old, so nothing complicated. Examples could be "1v1 dribbling challenge" or "4v4 with two jokers".
• These changes led to one, massive, benefit: since I didn't have to run around setting things up, and I roughly knew what I wanted to get out of the session, I had time to quietly observe what the kids were really doing. To be fair, most of the time things didn't go exactly as planned! But, since I knew what the overall goal was, I could try changing things without being stressed out. I could change a rule so that every goal scored on the first touch would count 3x (to promote passing and first-time shots), or I could make the pitch wider to encourage using the space in the wider areas.

Now, none of the items on that list are magical, cure-all fixes. I also implemented a few whistle-rules, where one blow would signal start/stop and two blows signalled gather around.

It took some, but surprisingly few, training sessions to get into it. Had I had this kind of list beforehand, it probably would have gone even faster.

I'm not guaranteeing that you won't experience dread, nervousness or that you feel uncertain if you are to step up to lead your kid's training session for the first time tomorrow.

What I will guarantee, is that the session itself will be more fun to be part of for the kids (what really matters) and that you will have a fighting chance of actually enjoying it as well.

Best,

Hans Martin

P.S. The recording from the livestream I mentioned in the reminder email on Tuesday is now up (with timestamps for each question if you want to skip around):

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