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JOIN NOWHow do people plan for the season?
Our new season starts in September. When planning do coaches plan for the entire season? The first four sessions? The first three months? Also do you start with maybe four sessions on defence then four on attack? Or do you mix it up?
Kelly SkillerCoach, England
TOP ANSWER
Eleanor DurrPlayer, England
Hi Kelly,
Usually, coaches will have a pre-season around the end of July/August focused on building up strength and fitness ready for the season. In September I would advise focusing on the basics, so in attack their passing accuracy, feeding into the circle, movement and always having two options for the ball. In defence you would look at man-to-man marking, body positioning and going cleanly for interceptions - you would then look to bring in unit work.
From then on I would look at how they are performing in their games and plan the next session around that. For example, if your team couldn`t get out for their centre passes, I`d plan a session around that or if your team`s feeding into the circle was poor, focus on that. This will help your team progress week by week and hopefully you would be able to see constant improvements.
Personally, I think it is important not to have a set structure of sessions for example week 1 - attack, week 2 - defence, week 3 - attack etc. - as in week 3 your team might need to continue focusing on their defence in order to get it to the desired level. Therefore your coaching should be more fluid and flexible, allowing your session structure to be focused on where improvements are needed.
So I would advise you pre-plan the first few weeks (until your first game), focused around both attacking and defending - for example, if it is the first 4 weeks I`d advise 2 attacking sessions then 2 defensive sessions so they can build on each. From then on I would then plan it week by week based on what you and the squad (depending on their age and involvement) believe they need to work on.
Hope this helps.
ANSWERS
Eleanor DurrPlayer, England
Hi Kelly,
Usually, coaches will have a pre-season around the end of July/August focused on building up strength and fitness ready for the season. In September I would advise focusing on the basics, so in attack their passing accuracy, feeding into the circle, movement and always having two options for the ball. In defence you would look at man-to-man marking, body positioning and going cleanly for interceptions - you would then look to bring in unit work.
From then on I would look at how they are performing in their games and plan the next session around that. For example, if your team couldn`t get out for their centre passes, I`d plan a session around that or if your team`s feeding into the circle was poor, focus on that. This will help your team progress week by week and hopefully you would be able to see constant improvements.
Personally, I think it is important not to have a set structure of sessions for example week 1 - attack, week 2 - defence, week 3 - attack etc. - as in week 3 your team might need to continue focusing on their defence in order to get it to the desired level. Therefore your coaching should be more fluid and flexible, allowing your session structure to be focused on where improvements are needed.
So I would advise you pre-plan the first few weeks (until your first game), focused around both attacking and defending - for example, if it is the first 4 weeks I`d advise 2 attacking sessions then 2 defensive sessions so they can build on each. From then on I would then plan it week by week based on what you and the squad (depending on their age and involvement) believe they need to work on.
Hope this helps.
Kelly SkillerCoach, England
Once again your advice is perfect. Thank you so much for taking the time to answer.
Tania WellerCoach, New Zealand
Thank you so much for posting up this question and also thank you Kelly for your advice. This has really helped me a lot too.
