How to plan a training session with a drill designer

1. Start with a single objective

The most common mistake is trying to work on five things at once. Pick one main objective for the session and phrase it as a behaviour you can see: not "improve our build-up", but "the holding midfielder shows between the lines when the centre-back receives under pressure". An objective like that tells you which drills fit and, more importantly, what you'll be correcting during the session.

It usually comes from the last match or the next one: an opponent that presses high, a weakness defending crosses, a transition that arrived late. Write it in the Description field of the first drill so the whole session stays tied to it.

2. Split the session into blocks

Almost any team session works with three or four blocks. What changes between sports is the content, not the logic:

• Activation (10-15 min): mobility plus a low-complexity ball task that already introduces the day's skill. A rondo in football, pepper in volleyball or layup lines in basketball.
• Technical block (15-20 min): the isolated skill, repeated. Few decisions, lots of reps.
• Tactical or situational block (20-30 min): the same content with opposition and real decisions — 3v2 overloads, playing out under pressure, defending outnumbered.
• Final game (15-20 min): a small-sided or conditioned game where the objective shows up naturally and you can check whether it has landed.

3. Design every drill as a card

A drill that only exists in your head gets explained badly and set up late. In the drill designer, each drill should hold the same things a good session card does:

• A clear name: "4v2 with a switch of play", not "rondo 3".
• Space: draw the real area with cones or a zone. If the size is a variable, write it in the description (for example, 12×12 m).
• Players: place the ones involved and set the minimum-maximum range, so you know whether the drill survives a night with three absentees.
• Equipment: balls, poles, mini goals, hurdles or ladders, placed where they will actually go.
• Rules and scoring: touch limits, how a point is won, what happens after a turnover.
• Coaching points: two or three at most — the ones that connect to the day's objective.

4. Plan progressions, not just the drill

A drill rarely works perfectly the first time. Before the session, decide how you'll make it easier if it breaks down and harder if it's too comfortable. The levers are always the same: size of the space, number of players (overload or underload), touch limits, time to finish, and how points are scored.

In practice, save the drill with "Save design", draw the variation and save it as a second design — both stay in History: a 4v2 that becomes 4v3, or a 3v2 with a late recovering defender. Having both ready saves you improvising while the group waits.

5. Check timing, density and rest

Add up the length of each block and compare it with your real field or court time: changing equipment and explaining each task takes longer than it seems. A simple trick is to set consecutive drills on the same space with the same equipment, so moving from one to the next means shifting two cones, not rebuilding the field.

Also check how many players are standing still in each task. If eight players queue to shoot once a minute in a finishing line, split it into two stations or shrink the group.

6. Get the material ready for the field

Once the session is settled, export every drill. PDF works well for printing and keeping in a folder; PNG is the easiest to send to your staff in a group chat before training. If you work with assistants, give each one the card for their station in advance so they arrive knowing where every cone goes.

Your designs autosave to your browser's local storage, so you can plan on your laptop and tweak later on the same device. If you switch devices, export what you need first.

7. After the session

Spend five minutes noting what worked. Adjust the player range or the space on the card and save the corrected version: within a few weeks you'll have your own library of drills tested with your group, which is far more useful than any generic collection.