Session Design: Don't Plan for Numbers, Plan for Principles

Your session is planned for 16, but only 10 show up. What do you do?

This is probably something every grassroots coach deals with every week.

You spent an hour designing a training plan, working out groups, pitch sizes, and numbers in each contest based on 16 players. Then you get to the pitch and only 10 have turned up. Someone is working late, someone's child is sick, someone's car broke down.

What do you do? Redesign the plan on the spot? Or grit your teeth and push through with the original?

Katie Sorensen is Head of Learning Experience at The FA, and also a coach with long experience in the top tier of the women's game. On The FA's Coach Cast podcast, she gave a very clear answer:

'Don't plan for numbers, plan for principles.'

'If you've planned an 8v8 for 16 players, and the theme is how to build from the back and break the opponent down, then when only 12 players show up, you can absolutely do the same thing as a 6v6. Your principles haven't changed. You've just adjusted the pitch size and the numbers per team.'

This sounds simple, but behind it is a completely different way of thinking about session design.

Is there a 'why' in your training plan?

Sorensen says a lot of coaches' training plans look very detailed: activities, pitch diagrams, time allocations are all there. But the most crucial thing is missing: why are we practising this?

'My habit is to start from a problem. In the weekend match, what problem did my players run into? The opponents used a low block, and we couldn't get the ball into the box. Okay, so this week's session theme is: how to break down a low block.'

'Start from the problem, define the theme, then design practices around the theme. Not the other way around, where you find a good-looking practice first and then try to stick a theme on top of it.'

She uses a simple framework to test whether each practice is effective, called the '3R':

Realism: Does this practice look like the game? Are the pressures and choices the players face the ones that come up in a match?

Relevance: Does this practice match your players' age, ability, and current stage?

Repetition: Do players get enough repetitions in this practice?

'If you can tick all three Rs, then the practice is most likely effective. If you can't tick any, it needs replacing. If you can tick two, that's not bad either. Adjust next time and try to hit all three.'

The 'practice menu': don't design from scratch every time

Sorensen brought up a particularly useful concept: the practice menu.

'I have a collection of practices I really like. I know these practices work because player engagement is very high. When it gets really busy mid-season, I don't need to design from scratch every time. I just open the menu, pick three practices based on this week's theme, then tweak them a little based on numbers and pitch size.'

This is especially valuable for grassroots coaches with limited time. You don't need to spend an hour online every week hunting for new session plans. What you need is to build up a collection of practices that you've tested yourself and found effective, then learn how to adapt them to different situations.

The way to adapt is simple: change the pitch size, change the rules, change the numbers. Principles stay the same, the format stays flexible.

Don't rush on to the next phase

Sorensen also talked about the pacing of a session. Many coaches design their sessions as a four-part structure (warm-up, technique, skill, game), then regardless of the players' actual state, when the time is up they switch to the next phase.

'If your players still haven't grasped what you want to teach in the first phase, don't rush on. Give them time. You have a whole season. What you don't finish this week, you can continue next week.'

'I've seen too many coaches rush through because they're afraid of not completing the plan. But the plan serves the players, not the other way around. If players need more time on a particular phase, give it to them.'

This aligns with what we've always stressed: the purpose of a session isn't to 'complete the plan', it's to 'help players learn something'. These two things are sometimes in conflict.

Write the learning outcome on the whiteboard

Sorensen shared a little technique she uses herself:

'One side of my whiteboard has the training diagram, the other side has today's learning outcome. When players arrive, change their boots, and kick the ball around a bit, they can see it.'

'For example, today it says defending the box. Players see it and immediately know what we're practising tonight. Their curiosity is already sparked. By the time you officially start, they're already thinking: what does this practice have to do with defending the box?'

'Once the practice starts, players can connect what they're doing to the goal on the whiteboard themselves. That's far more effective than you standing there explaining for five minutes.'

The gap between training and match day

Sorensen talked about a puzzle many coaches face: it looks great in training, but on match day it all falls apart.

Her analysis is this: training and matches are two completely different environments. The training pitch is familiar, the pace is controllable, and psychological pressure is low. On match day, it's all reversed.

'So the problem is often not at the tactical or technical level, but at the psychological and social level. Do you create psychological pressure in your training? Do you create uncertainty?'

She gave a concrete example:

'Halfway through a small-sided game, I'll say: Louise's team, you've got a penalty. If you score, you lead 1-0. If you miss, it stays 0-0. Most of the time the penalty goes in, so now Jamie's team is suddenly 1-0 down. What are you going to do?'

'That's what happens on match day. You'll be ahead, you'll be behind, you'll meet unfairness. If you never simulate these scenarios in training, then of course players will panic the first time they face them on match day.'

What you practised on Thursday, don't forget to use on Sunday

Sorensen particularly stressed consistency between training and match day.

'If in Thursday's session you're encouraging players to take bold dribbles and be brave, then on Sunday in the game you have to keep the same attitude. You can't say no worries, be bold in training and then shake your head and sigh when the ball is lost in the game.'

'Your body language will give you away. Hands in pockets, arms crossed, disappointed head shakes. Players see all of this. If what you say with your mouth doesn't match your body language, players get very confused.'

She also mentioned a method: spend a few minutes before the match reviewing what was practised in training.

'With young players, on match day during the warm-up I'll quickly run through what we practised on Thursday. You can see their eyes light up: yes, this is what we practised. That's reconnecting them to their learning.'

Sometimes the best plan is to rip up the plan

Sorensen shared an experience of her own:

'There was a match where the opponent used a very deep low block and packed the box. We couldn't create a single shooting chance the whole game.'

'Back in training, I ripped up the plan I'd prepared for that week. We weren't going to practise what I'd originally planned. Instead, we practised how to draw the opponent out and how to create space by holding the ball in the back.'

'At first I wasn't quite brave enough to do this. I felt that once you've made a plan, you should stick with it. But later I figured it out: what do the players need right now? They need to solve the problem from last week's match, not the training theme I came up with two weeks ago.'

'Flexibility isn't having no plan. Flexibility is having a plan, but being willing to adjust it based on what the players actually need.'

Who is your session serving?

This is what I think is the most important underlying logic in the whole interview.

A lot of coaches, when designing a session, are thinking: 'Does my plan look good?' 'Are my arrangements reasonable?' 'Have I covered all the phases?'

But what Sorensen is saying over and over is something different: is your session serving the players, or serving your training plan?

If 10 players show up and you don't know what to do, it means your plan was designed around numbers, not around principles.

If players haven't grasped the first phase and you're already rushing on, it means you're completing the plan, not helping players learn.

If training looks great but match day falls apart, it means your training is missing the most important elements of a match: pressure, uncertainty, and emotional swings.

Back to the simplest line: don't plan for numbers, plan for principles.

Numbers will change, pitches will change, the weather will change, players' states will change. But what you want to teach them this week shouldn't become unteachable just because a few fewer players turned up.

This article is based on an interview on The FA's Coach Cast podcast. Katie Sorensen is Head of Learning Experience at The FA, with long coaching experience in the top tier of the women's game.