Leading a Training Session: How You Make an Impact as a Coach

The Coach as Director

A helpful way of thinking: The coach is not an actor. They are a director.

This means they are not the center of attention. They create conditions in which players can act. They observe. They intervene when necessary – but not because they always have to be present.

A rule of thumb proven in practice: 70 percent of the time observing, 30 percent intervening. Those who reverse this – constantly talking, explaining, correcting – deny players the time to experience. And experience is what truly teaches.

This also means: Silence on the field is not a sign of weakness. It's a sign that the coach trusts what is happening and lets the players do their job.

Preparation: 8 Points for a Structured Session

Half the work happens before training. Coaches who step onto the field without prior thought will realize it at the latest when the first drill fails and they have no idea for the next step.

Here are eight points that good preparation covers:

Set an Objective

What should players be able to do better after this session? Or understand better? Or have experienced?

Without a clear objective, there is no meaningful structure. The objective doesn't have to be complex – "improve passing and movement in a 3-on-1" is specific and realistic for a single session.

Determine Session Type

Not every training session has the same character. Three fundamental forms:

These three forms should all appear in a week's training cycle – with an increasing proportion of playing depending on age and game relevance.

Plan Three Phases

Every session has a structure: Warm-up – Main Part – Cool-down.

This sounds trivial. But mistakes happen right here: a warm-up that's too long, leaving no energy for the main part. No cool-down because time has run out. Or a main part that has nothing to do thematically with the session's objective.

Choose a Method

How will the content be conveyed? Show and let them try? Small drills with corrections? Game forms without interruption?

The method depends on the learning objective and age group. The younger the players, the more game-like the method. No 10-year-old learns technique through long frontal explanations – they learn it by trying.

Balance Intensity and Recovery

How intense will the session be? Are there sufficient breaks? Does the session follow a match or a rest day?

Those who don't ask these questions risk either too little stimulus (players are bored) or too much (quality breaks down).

Plan for Individualization

Not all players are the same. A player who is already good at an exercise needs a challenge. A player who struggles needs a simpler variation.

Good exercises have built-in variations – one level easier and one level harder. Planning this beforehand means no need to improvise during training.

Prepare Materials

Cones, bibs, balls – everything is ready. This sounds obvious. But arriving on the field and then setting up loses players' attention before the session has even begun.

Plan Evaluation

What will be briefly discussed after the session? What kind of feedback should be given? What questions will be asked of the players?

Coaches who invest two minutes at the end of the session – what went well, what are our key takeaways – turn an event into a learning process.

Animating the Session: 5 Principles

Preparation is one half. Animation – the way the session is led on the field – is the other.

Principle 1: Explain Clearly and Briefly

Long explanations lose players. Children always, adolescents usually, adults often.

The rule of thumb: an exercise explanation should not last longer than 60–90 seconds. What isn't clear after that will become clear through trying.

Poor Explanation:

"So, now we're doing a 4-on-2 pressing drill, where four players stand in the outer circle and two in the middle. The four should keep the ball, and the two try to win it, with the outer players always passing immediately when pressured, and the two in the middle should try..."

Good Explanation:

"Four outside, two in the middle. Four keep the ball, two try to win it. If you lose it, you switch. Questions?"

The content is the same. The attention that remains is fundamentally different.

Principle 2: Show First, Then Explain

If possible: first do, then describe. The brain processes images faster than words.

A player demonstrates the exercise – or the coach quickly shows it themselves. Then a brief explanation. Then start immediately.

Benjamin Franklin's principle applies directly here: He who hears, forgets. He who sees, remembers. He who does, understands.

Principle 3: Ask Questions Instead of Giving Commands

The difference between "do it like this!" and "why do you think we're doing it this way?" is enormous.

Questions activate players' thinking. They process the answer themselves and retain it better. Furthermore, coaches learn more about their players' understanding – and about gaps that still need to be closed.

Example questions instead of commands:

• "What happens if the striker runs earlier here?" instead of "Run earlier!"
• "Why did we concede that goal just now?" instead of "You're positioned incorrectly!"
• "What would you do differently in this situation?"

This requires patience. And it changes the dynamic on the field – towards a team that thinks along.

Principle 4: Allow Mistakes

Interrupting and correcting every mistake immediately deprives players of the opportunity to solve problems themselves. And it stops the flow of play so often that the effective training time decreases.

Not every mistake requires an immediate reaction. Repeated mistakes need clear guidance. Mistakes arising from a lack of understanding need an explanation. Mistakes that are part of the learning process need time.

The question for the coach is: Does this mistake require my intervention now – or will it resolve itself?

Principle 5: Adjust Tempo

Different groups need different tempos. What is self-evident for an experienced U16 team must be built up in small steps for a U10 team.

This also applies within a session: If an exercise is going too fast and quality drops, slow down. If an exercise has become boring, introduce a variation or move on.

When to Intervene, When to Observe?

This is the central decision on the field. No formula completely solves it – but there are clear situations for both.

Intervene when...

• Safety is compromised – clear foul situation, aggressive behavior, physical danger
• A major error repeats itself – after three or four repetitions, a targeted stop helps more than letting it continue
• Disorientation prevails – the group no longer knows what to do
• The dynamic shifts negatively – players become restless, conflicts arise
• Crucially important learning content – certain techniques become ingrained incorrectly if not corrected early

Observe when...

• Things are flowing – players are engaged, quality is present
• Mistakes are part of the learning process – small errors from which players can learn themselves
• Effort is being made – even if not yet successful, a player shows commitment and willingness to experiment

The Triad: Move, Observe, Intervene

A simple orientation for the coach on the field:

Move: Don't stand still at one point. Move across the field, take different perspectives, change sightlines.

Observe: Actively watch. What's working? What isn't? Why? Where are the patterns?

Intervene: Targeted and measured. A clear message. An impulse. Then observe again.

Coaches who live this triad appear confident on the field – because they don't constantly react, but act consciously.

Dealing with Inattention

Inattention in training is not laziness. It's a signal.

A player who isn't listening during an explanation is either overwhelmed (doesn't understand what's meant), underwhelmed (is bored), distracted (has something else on their mind), or lacks a connection with the coach (trust is missing).

What Helps

• Short sessions instead of long ones – attention is a limited resource, especially for children
• Variety throughout the session – a constant pace for 90 minutes kills attention
• Involve players – those who explain, observe, or demonstrate themselves stay focused
• Direct address – for genuine disengagement: a short, calm, direct address, no public shaming

What doesn't help: getting loud, making sarcastic comments, or repeatedly appealing to the whole group. This creates more unrest than it solves.

The 4 Most Important Takeaways

Training Sessions That Stick

The sessions players remember years later are rarely those with the most challenging drill plan. They are the sessions where they experienced something – a moment of success, a challenge they overcame, or a coach's word at the right moment.

This doesn't happen by chance. It happens through preparation, through observation, through targeted intervention – and through knowing when to simply let the game flow.

The coach who observes 70 percent of the time and intervenes 30 percent is often the one who achieves the greatest impact. Not because they do less – but because they do more precisely what truly helps.

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