Introducing Quick Coach

Here’s a series of super-quick activities to set up and use to mix up your training to keep all your players occupied. Ideal to hand out to your co-coaches and aimed at a range of core skills in game-like contexts.

They are mini-activities aimed at four to six players. The aim is to provide you with a bank of breakout exercises you can run during your session. They should only last around five minutes, but the key is that they are very quick to set up and can be run by any coach in your group. They can even be run by one of the players if appropriate.

Here’s how I picture you can use them:

1. You have 25 players. You want to run an 8 v 8 game. That leaves around nine players not involved. You give two assistants a QC activity each and split the nine players between them. 
2. They run each activity for four minutes, so the players swap between the activities and complete eight minutes in total. Then they swap into the game, with one of the other teams going into the activity area.
3. You have 16 players. You have 5 v 5 (or 6 v 5) playing a game, and one group in the activity area. They do one of the QC activities and then swap back into the game.
4. You have four coaches. You give them a QC activity each. They run their activity for five minutes and then the players rotate to the next activity.

KEY POINTS

Quick start

The activities are very simple and so need very little explanation. The players should be doing the QC activity within 30 seconds of them arriving at the activity.

More activity

The activity should be as continuous as possible. The coach shouldn’t stop it to discuss skills. As much as the coach can, they should give feedback on the move. Let the activity create opportunities for players to learn and develop.

One point each QC

Only feedback on one skill in each activity. Praise effort, but don’t try to cover too much. It’s quite hard though because players will be making a range of errors. The coach needs to make a mental note of these for future sessions.

Top tip

If you have enough equipment, make sure that the coach carries another ball. Though it might not be required, it does mean that should a ball be dropped or be lost out of the box, another can be thrown in quickly.

THE QC RATIONALE

• All the QC activities are competitive. The players will put their skills under pressure.
• Lots of activity in a short space of time.
• The coach spends more time observing than talking.
• The players should be able to understand what’s going on quickly so be able to be in their training quickly.