Club Curriculum

Can be purchased for £10 by clicking here.

Check out of club curriculum PDF, which is available for £10. Let's take a look inside to see what you get.

The PDF starts off with some theory and methodology. It's important for the coaches within a club to be on the same page when it comes to club values, and the delivery of a session. We have presented it in easy to understand terms for the reader, and provided vivid visuals.

The first section on exercises is fun games for young players. Applicable to kids of many ages, really, but especially good for beginners. Each session diagram is accompanied by an explanation of how it works, and even better, there is an "ask me" section below to help with leading questions in the debriefs.

The fun games for young players is then followed by 5v5, 7v7, 9v9, and 11v11 sections, with different topics at each one. The progressions from one age group to the next will build upon the foundations laid by the age group below, aiding the transition from year to year. These now have more specific learning objectives, which can be found at the top of the page.

Each age group is accompanied by individual, position specific, challenge cards. Outline these to your players beforehand to see if they can accomplish them within a game.

Following that, there are also team objectives for the games. How many you provide them is up to you, as it is likely that doing all six in one go might be a bit too much for them. Choose a couple, allowing you to go deeper with the learning and reflection processes.

Below are the detailed session plans found at 7v7, 9v9, and 11v11.

Each topic has suggested exercises, learning objectives, questions, and also detailed session plans with coaching points. The session plan follows our suggestion of;

360 Player: Break the concept into the smallest component of 1v1/2v2 type work, often position specific.
Rondo: Paint the picture, much like coaches may have done with pattern play, but this is opposed. Often overloaded to increase the success and repetitions, but opposed nonetheless, as it paints the realistic pictures for the players as they work in groups to solve the problems.

Exercise 1 and Exercise 2: This progresses from the rondo into other training activities, sometimes with the equal numbers or the direction that the rondo may be missing.
SSG: The small sided game now allows you to take all of this into a game. But not just any game. The match at the end should be constrained in such a way that the players still face plenty of repetitions solving the problems that have been posed to them throughout the practice. There's no point working on counter attack all session, only to play a match where counters rarely happen.

Each age group comes with an explanation of the progression of the methodology up until that point. It provides a basic breakdown on how the formation and positions function. At the top of the page, we see the topics for 9v9. Within each one, there are suggestions on how it can be expanded further. Defending is broad and generic. When it comes to the week to work on defending, which aspect will you chose to work on? In which third of the field? In which phase of the game? With that kind of overload?

Included at the end are ideas for futsal and goalkeeping practices. This entire curriculum fits into each other part like a jigsaw. It is important to have coherency and an idea that fits across the entire club. Too many of us have worked in environments where coaches do their own thing, with little to no guidance from the club. These free-for-all environments can run counter to a club's mission statement of developing players. Coaches leave, players move, and the plan can then be rewritten again and again. Having a philosophy and methodology to adhere to provides structure in often chaotic environments. Would you like your kids to be taught in school by teachers who make it up on the spot? No. Expect the same for your football.

As mentioned earlier, you can have our curriculum PDF for £10. If you like, we can do customisations for your club. If it's as simple as changing the colours and the logo, we can do that for an extra £10. If you want to tweak a bit more, talk to us about what you want done, and we'll agree a price. We can add pictures of your players, we can change the fonts, we can add different sessions, we can change the methodology. Just tell us what you want.