Six Of The Best Free Football Coaching Drills and Resources for Grassroots Football Coaches
Our selection of six of the best free football coaching drills, resources, sessions and tools for grassroots football coaches & players of all abilities and levels.
The role of the a grassroots football Coach is wide-ranging, diverse and continually evolving. Indeed, there are new strategies, practices and concepts being developed at an increasing rate. The internet has played a crucial role in allowing coaches to share their ideas, and over the past few years more and more online coaching education platforms have surfaced, allowing new and practicing coaches critical insights into the training methods of the top clubs.
To help you select the right resources, we have reviewed the many platforms, resources and the best free football coaching drills for you. Here’s our shortlist of some fantastic online coaching education platforms to help you develop as football coach.
1. The Coaching Manual
The Coaching Manual have grown quickly over the past few years and have truly embraced the idea of digitalization in the modern game, with clubs like Southampton FC and Rangers FC using their platform to deliver coaching education to their staff and partners worldwide.
The Coaching Manual offer 100’s of online coaching drills & sessions (many of which are created with Southampton FC), which can be managed using their user friendly Session Planning software. In addition to that, members can utilize their automated Season Planning tool, designed and tailored to suit by expert coaches from The Coaching Manual Team.
Best Features:
- Industry leading Session design & planning software
- Exclusive coaching courses with certification
- Masterclasses with leading coaches such as Chris Hughton, David Moyes and many more
Pricing & Membership options:
- Basic: FREE
- Standard: £5/Month or £36/Year
- Premium: £7/Month or £60/Year
- Enterprise options available with tailored quotes
2. The Boot Room
The Boot Room is a fairly recent development from The FA that provides an ever growing database of sessions, guides, articles and interviews for coaches of all levels, all based in the playing & coaching philosophy of England Teams.
Being The FA, you can find all the latest courses and events and membership will give you access to their online community of >30,000 coaches to share, discuss and exchange your approaches, ideas and thoughts on coaching.
Best Features:
- Access to all the latest coaching courses and events provided by The FA
- Development support
- Coaching Community
Pricing & Membership options:
- Free (except courses etc)
3. Player Development Project
The Player Development Project is a vast collection of resources with hundreds of session plans, interviews, discussions, articles, research reviews and advice from a global network of the world’s best coaches. PDP cover all aspects of player development, offering users industry leading content on various topics such as sports science, psychology, working with parents, leadership and many more that few other platforms can match.
The entire collection is tagged, easy to navigate and members can save their favourite sessions, articles and videos directly to their Bookmarks page.
Best features:
- Huge collection of coaching resources & content
- Slack community for members to share ideas and learn
- Mentoring calls (with premium membership)
Pricing & Membership options:
-
- Standard: $12.99/month or $99/year
- Premium: $79.99/month or $799/year
- Free trial is available
4. The Coaches Voice Academy
Building from their hugely popular Coaches Voice series of interviews and articles, the CV Academy learning portal offers users the opportunity to learn directly from some of the worlds top coaches, with interviews and sessions from the likes of Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espirito Santo, Gareth Southgate, Eddie Howe and many more.
Their Masterclass series is a particular highlight, with elite coaches revealing the strategies behind some of their most important games as a manager. They also provide insight into their philosophies, and any iconic teams they have coached or played in.
Best Features:
- Masterclasses from elite coaches
- One-to-one small group online sessions
- First hand accounts of coaching pathways of elite coaches
Pricing & Membership options:
- Monthly subscription: £7.99
- Annual Subscription: £75.00
5. UltimatePlayerHQ
For drills and session plans, UltimateplayerHQ are up there with the best, with an impressive library of >800 animated Football drills as well as a variety of session handbooks available for purchase. Their library is updated with new drills every week and members can enjoy use of their app as well as discounts to various partners.
Best Features:
- App
- Session handbooks
- >700 animated Football drills
Pricing & Membership options:
- Monthly Membership: £4.99
- Annual Membership: £40
- Club membership options available
6. Soccer Profile
Co-Founded by current Sheffield Wednesday Manager, Garry Monk, Soccer Profile comes with ringing endorsements from the likes of Brendan Rogers & Pep Clotet amongst other high profile coaches within the game.
Soccer Profile markets itself as the worlds leading online measuring resource, aiding the long term development of a player’s technical & physical ability. The tool allows coaches to create sessions or use sessions from their online library, updated regularly with the latest coaching practices used in the likes of the Premier League. What separates them from the others however, is the ability to measure individual player performance and track progress over time, as well as create comparisons with other players.
Best Features
- Measurement and tracking of player ability and progress
- In depth analytics for individuals and team
- Session plan library and ability to create your own
Pricing & Membership options:
- £5.50/Month or £60/Year
- Price decreases for multiple licenses
So which resource should you go for as a Football Coach? To be honest it depends entirely on your preference and what you feel you lack in your game – the platforms above all have their own specialties and approaches that will appeal to different coaches. The good thing is that all of these platforms offer affordable, low cost options that don’t tie you into any long term contracts, so why not test them out and see which suits you best!
One final point we’d like to add is that this is not an exhaustive list – there are a huge number of fantastic, reasonably priced platforms out there that can be a massive boost to your development.
