How should you coach mixed ability groups?

For coaches working at grassroots, running mixed-ability sessions and managing mixed-ability teams is inevitable.

It can be tough to offer every player, regardless of ability, the chance to enjoy and improve within one short training session.

Similar can be said about one-off events, such as holiday camps, where players with a range of different experiences and motivations often attend.

We spoke to three coaches about how they go about planning and adapting their sessions so there is something for everyone…

 

’INDIVIDUAL FEEDBACK IS REALLY IMPORTANT

"This is an important, but very difficult, part of coaching, especially in grassroots, where that big range of ability might be present.

"You can design practices where, if you’ve got different pitches, winners move up and you get stronger players against stronger players, so they have got a relevant challenge to them.

“For me, it’s about trying to identify different ways you can change practices to provide challenges for different individuals.

"Something I’ve seen recently is a coach giving the players a choice. Players were practising some dribbling skills unopposed to start, then they went to 1v1s.

"I think it’s probably typical that if you were doing ball manipulation or dribbling skills to then go into a 1v1 - straight away you’ve got that pressure of a defender. But this coach offered a ’practice or play’ approach.

“If we’re working together and I’ve passed you the ball, and you’re trying to use your dribbling skills to get past me, as I receive the ball from you, I would say ’practice’ or ’play’.

"If I say ’practice’, it means I don’t want you to tackle me but you can come and put pressure on me just so I can get comfortable. But if I say ’play’, then it’s live and you can tackle me.

“If you like more game-based approaches, to provide a bit more of a challenge or a little bit more support for other players, it might be underloads and overloads.

"It might be players that are really striving have less players on their team, so they have to deal with different challenges, whereas other players might have a few more to give them more support.

“One thing, aside from the practices, that’s very important for that sort of differentiation and helping different ability levels within the session is the feedback from the coach.

"If you have individual feedback with different players, I feel that’s very useful. It’s not just that blanket approach of ’this is what we’re focusing on, this is what you should be able to do’, it’s actually recognising this player needs help.

“It might be before receiving the ball, they need to work on getting a bit more space away from their defender.

"That might be where you can add in different aspects, as well - for example, you can’t tackle them until they’ve had their first touch, or something like that.

"I think that individual feedback, and being able to provide that support on an individual basis is really important."

GEORGE ROBERTS
Academy coach, Plymouth Argyle FC

 

’WE HAVE TO BE INCLUSIVE FOR EVERYBODY’