The Sporting Resource

10/09/2026

Football Tennis
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Organisation
• Set up multiple grids, approx. 5x10 yards
• Divide each grid with a line, tape or low net through the middle
• 1v1 on each court
• Players start behind opposite end lines
• Create as many courts as needed to keep everyone involved

Practice:
• One player serves the ball into the opponent’s half.
• Ball may bounce once before being returned.
• Players attempt to keep the rally going while trying to make the opponent miss.

A point is awarded when:
→ The opponent cannot return the ball
→ The ball travels outside the area
→ The agreed bounce/touch rules are broken
→ Reset quickly and continue.

Participation Adaptation
The main constraint is court availability.
To avoid queues:
→ Build enough courts for all players to be active
→ Adjust court dimensions if space is limited
→ Use pairs rather than waiting players if numbers increase
→ Keep scoring formats short

Gamified Scoring:
Simple scoring works best:
• Rally won = 1 point
• First to 5 or 7 wins

Alternatively use 60–90 second games before court movement

Progression 1: Reduce the Help
Gradually reduce the number of bounces or touches available.

For example:
• One bounce with multiple touches
• One bounce and two touches
• No bounce where appropriate

Progression 2: Champions Court
Designate one court as the Championship Court.

After each short game:
• Winner on Championship Court stays
• Loser moves to the lowest court
• Winners on other courts move up one

Other players remain or rotate according to numbers

Progression 3: Doubles Court
Progress from 1v1 to 2v2.
Pairs must now decide:
• Who takes the first ball
• Where their partner should support
• How to cover the court
• Whether to play directly or set a teammate

Teaching the “Why”
Read the Picture
• “Where is your opponent standing?”
• “Where could you place the ball to make their next touch difficult?”

Purpose in the Action
• “Are you simply returning the ball, or placing it somewhere deliberately?”

Change the Rhythm
• “When might a softer touch help?”
• “When can you play more aggressively int

10/09/2026

I used to think a good session was one where I stuck to the plan.

When I first started coaching, one of the biggest signs that a session had gone well was pretty simple:

✅ Did I get through everything I had planned?

If the organisation worked, each activity flowed into the next and I got from the beginning to the end without having to change much, I was happy.

Then came the second personal criteria:
• Was everyone involved?
• Did they all participate?
• Did everyone enjoy themselves?
• Did we get through it without anyone crying, fighting or disappearing off somewhere?

If those two things came together, I’d usually leave thinking "That went well!"

None of those things are irrelevant,organisation and structure helps. Players feeling included and enjoying football is also important.

What changed with experience was realising they were only part of the picture and I started asking different questions.

• Did I adapt when the players needed something different?
• What was the quality of my coaching?
• How did the players interact with me and with each other?
• Were they actually learning, or were we simply getting through the activities?
• What was the purpose of the session in the first place?
• Did what happened actually move us towards it?

One of the biggest changes in my coaching was learning that the session plan wasn't something I had to complete. It was something I could use, change and sometimes abandon if the players in front of me needed something else.

These days, getting from the first activity to the last exactly as planned wouldn't automatically make me think I'd coached a good session.

Sometimes the better session is the one that barely resembles the plan you arrived with.

→ What used to make you think you’d delivered a good session when you first started coaching and has that changed now?

10/09/2026

Youth development suffers from what adults normalise.

Players adapt to the environment we create, not simply the one we say we value.

• We tell them effort is important, then praise outcomes before behaviours.
• We say mistakes are part of learning, then react in ways that make them afraid to make them.
• We encourage bravery, then immediately correct the risky decision when it goes wrong.

Players notice far more than the words we use.

They notice how we speak, how we respond when things become difficult How patient we are when learning takes longer than expected and how we treat those who are finding the game hardest.

The behaviours adults repeatedly model gradually become part of the environment.

• Celebrate obedience too often and players may stop thinking for themselves.
• Intervene constantly and they get fewer opportunities to notice problems independently.
• Rescue every difficult moment and they get fewer chances to solve one.

The issue isn’t having standards, young players (children) need standards, boundaries and accountability.

The challenge is making sure those expectations are appropriate for the child, the stage of development and the learning taking place.

We cannot say we value long-term development while continually reacting to short-term outcomes.

The environment is always teaching, the question is whether it is teaching what we intended.

📸 James Peace

10/09/2026

I think one of the easiest things to do as a coach is keep looking for another session idea. I’ve done it plenty of times and it's something that share weekly across our platforms.

You see something online, think it looks decent, save it, make a couple of changes and use it with your group.

There’s nothing wrong with that, the problem is when the practice comes before the reason for using it.

• What have you actually noticed from the players?
• What are they finding difficult?
• What do you want to help them get better at?
• What would improvement even look like?

I try to think about it more like this now:

→ Watch the players first.
→ Work out what they need help with.
→ Then find or build something that gives them more chances to work through it.

That same thinking sits behind a lot of what we build at The Sporting Resource. The resources are there to help coaches with the next step, not make the decision for them.

There are more session ideas available now than most of us could ever use. The harder part is knowing which one is actually right for the players in front of you.

09/09/2026

The danger with exceptional success stories is that we already know how they end.

Tiger Woods had Earl, Venus and Serena had Richard Williams, Max Verstappen had Jos and David Beckham had Ted.

All were deeply involved parents and in different ways, their approach clearly contributed to the success that followed.

→ This isn't me criticising them.

It's about being careful with what we learn from them, because once we know the outcome, it becomes very easy to look backwards and decide that the method must have been the reason.

✅ Tiger became Tiger, so perhaps Earl’s approach is what talented children need.

✅ Serena became Serena, so perhaps Richard’s approach should be copied.

✅ David spent hours practising with Ted, so maybe our own child needs the same.

That is where the comparison trap begins.

Those approaches belonged to those children, those families, those relationships and that moment in time.

✅ Change the child and you change the equation. One child hears, “You can do better,” and feels motivated.

❌ Another hears exactly the same words and feels that what they have done is never enough.

✅ One child wants another 20 minutes after training.

❌ Another stays because they do not want to disappoint Mum or Dad.

From the outside, both can look committed. Inside the child, the experience can be completely different.

✋ That does not mean parents should step back.

Children still need support, standards, encouragement, honest feedback and sometimes a push through difficult moments.

The question is not whether we should be involved, it's asking the following reflective questions:

• What is my involvement actually doing for this child?
• Are they becoming more confident?
• Are they taking more ownership?
• Can they make mistakes without fearing the conversation afterwards?
• Do they still enjoy competing?
• Does the sport still feel like theirs?

There are many routes to high performance, with some exceptional athletes growing up in highly structured, parent driven environments.

Others had parents who created opportunities, supported them and allowed coaches to coach.

✅ Both can work.

The mistake is assuming somebody else’s success proves what our own child needs.

Our job is not to recreate Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, Max Verstappen or David Beckham.

It is to understand the child in front of us well enough to create an environment where they can compete, enjoy, develop and stay in the game long enough to discover how far they want to take it.

Someone else’s success story can teach us something, it should never become our child’s instruction manual.

09/09/2026

Ray Power has spent years working across coaching and coach development, so it’s great to hear his thoughts on The Sporting Resource.

“The Sporting Resource offers helpful ideas and fresh thinking. It’s a great tool for coaches at any level.”

That is what TSR is trying to be, practical enough to use, but thoughtful enough to make you stop and reconsider how you coach.

Thanks to Ray for the words.

Explore the free coaching resources, tools and ideas available at The Sporting Resource:
https://www.thesportingresource.co.uk/

09/09/2026

If you haven’t already, please send us a direct message with the word “sessions” and we’ll send the link straight across.

It makes it much easier for us to reply to you directly and helps make sure the link doesn’t get lost in messenger.

Need some fresh session ideas for training?

I’ve added 19 completely free football session plans to The Sporting Resource.

They cover:
→ Possession
→ 1v1s
→ Transition & counter-attacking
→ Passing & first touch
→ Small-sided games
→ Warm-up games

Each one is available as a downloadable PDF.

No account, email address or sign-up.

DM (Direct Message) me “SESSIONS” and I’ll send you the link to the full library.

09/09/2026

Iliman Ndiaye’s journey is not evidence that every player in non-league football will eventually reach Manchester City.

That is not the message, the message is how little a player’s current environment can sometimes tell us about their eventual ceiling.

At 11, Ndiaye was in Marseille’s academy.

For many young players, that might look like the start of a clear route towards professional football.

His journey did not unfold like that, after moving to England, he went through a series of unsuccessful trials.

• Southampton
• Reading
• Tottenham
• Chelsea
• Crystal Palace

None became the opportunity he needed, then Boreham Wood opened a door.

At 16, Ndiaye joined their academy programme. A few years later, while contracted to Sheffield United, he went out on loan to Hyde United.

At 19, he was playing in the seventh tier of English football.

Think about that for a moment, Marseille academy at 11 and eventh-tier football at 19.

From the outside, some might have looked at that pathway and assumed he had moved further away from the elite game.

Sheffield United eventually gave him his opportunity.

He broke into the first team, established himself in the Championship and helped the club earn promotion to the Premier League.

Then came international football, Ndiaye made his senior debut for Senegal in 2022, aged 22.

Months later, he represented his country at the World Cup in Qatar.

At 23, the journey came full circle, he returned to Marseille. This time not as an academy player but a senior professional.

Then came Everton in the Premier League.

In 2026, aged 26, Ndiaye represented Senegal at another World Cup. The same player who had been playing seventh-tier football at 19 was now appearing on the biggest international stage for the second time.

Then came Manchester City a £60 million move, with the deal potentially rising further through add-ons.

Development did not move in a straight line, there were trials that went nowhere. There were years when nobody could have known where the pathway would eventually lead.

Youth football often treats a player’s current level as evidence of their future level.

Not every unconventional pathway ends at the very top, but an unconventional pathway is not evidence that the journey is over.

At 19, Ndiaye was playing seventh-tier football.

Seven years later, he was playing at a World Cup and signing for Manchester City.

How much should we really conclude about a young player from where they happen to be playing today?

09/09/2026

A simple 3v3 practice designed to create repeated transition moments and better decisions after possession changes.

Want access to more session ideas like this?

Comment "SESSIONS" below and we’ll send you the link.

09/09/2026

Winning the ball doesn’t automatically mean you should attack quickly.

The real challenge is recognising whether the opportunity is actually there.

This 3v3 Transition Targets practice creates repeated moments where players have to decide:

→ Can we attack before they recover?
→ Where has the space appeared?
→ Who can support the first action?
→ Do we go forward or secure possession first?

Two teams play 3v3 centrally, with target players positioned on opposite end lines.

Find your target to score,if possession changes and the game immediately goes the other way. From there, you can manipulate the problem:

1. Add a layoff
The target must connect back into the team before the point counts.

2. Reward an effective counter
Experiment with bonus points for scoring quickly after regaining possession but watch whether it improves recognition or simply makes players rush.

3. Remove the solution
Let the players develop their own movements, rotations and ways of exploiting the transition.

The question isn’t:

“Can we play forward?” it’s: “Should we play forward?”

What information should a young player recognise immediately after their team regains possession?

Find more session ideas and downloadable practices here:

https://www.thesportingresource.co.uk/sessions-plans